A Lost Life Recovered
by JasonMorganfan87
Summary: Three years have passed and Jake still has no idea who he is. He has moved on with his life and now has a new life and family. But what happens when he finally learns who he really is and about his 'wife's' betrayal. Will he stay with her or will he return to the true love of his life?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own General Hospital or any of its characters.**

 **A Lost Life Recovered**

Elizabeth smiled as she walked into the home she shared with her husband and children. It had been three years since she'd learned the truth about Jake being Jason. He thankfully never discovered the truth.

Elizabeth had married Jason, though he still went by Jake, almost two years ago. They were very happy. Jake had adopted her boys, as Lucky was never really around for them and finally relinquished his parental rights, and they even had a child of their own. An eighteen-month-old daughter named Alissa, though they called her Alli.

There were of course reminders of her husband's old life that made Elizabeth worry that the truth would come out. One was sitting on the couch with her son, Aiden, when she got home. Six-year-old Danny Morgan.

Eight-year-old Aiden turned as soon as he heard someone come in. "HI, Mommy."

"Hey, sweetie. Hi, Danny," Elizabeth said with a fake smile.

"Hi," Danny said without looking away from the movie he and Aiden were watching.

"Aiden, where is your father," Elizabeth asked.

"He's in the kitchen getting dinner ready," Aiden said.

Elizabeth immediately went into the kitchen. She found her husband by the stove stirring something in a pot while her daughter was in her high chair a few feet away. "Jake?"

Jake turned to his wife. "Hey. I hope pasta's okay for tonight. It's already halfway done so it kinda has to be."

"It's fine. So I guess Danny's having dinner with us?" Elizabeth asked.

"Actually, he's going to be spending a couple of days with us. Sam was in a bind. She had to go out of town quickly for a job," Jake said.

"Shouldn't you have talked to me about having an extra kid for the weekend before you brought him here?" Elizabeth asked.

"I told you it was last minute. I didn't think it would be a big deal," Jake said. Actually, that wasn't really true. He knew very well that Elizabeth had some kind of issue with his relationship with Danny, as well as his close friendship with the boy's mother. He didn't get why though. Elizabeth would always wave it off like he was losing his mind, but he knew there was an issue.

"It's not really, but I should've at least been consulted," Elizabeth lied. It was a problem. Every time Danny and Sam came around there was a problem. She could see that they both mattered to Jake. He had a connection to them and it scared her that he would remember that they were his family one day while he was with them and he would leave her.

"Uncle Jake," A small voice called from the doorway.

Jake turned and smiled at Danny. He loved when the boy called him that. He'd been calling him that since he was about three and a half. He didn't even need any prompting for it. The little boy just started calling him that one day while he was over talking with Sam. It had shocked both adults, but they were both okay with it. "Yeah, Danny."

"Can I have some juice?" Danny asked.

"Sure, buddy. Elizabeth, would you stir the sauce?" Jake asked before going to the fridge and taking out a bottle of apple juice. It was Danny's favorite. Actually, it was the only kind the boy would drink.

Jake went over and grabbed two cups. He knew that Aiden would want some too."

"Where's Cam?" Elizabeth asked as she stirred the sauce.

"Patrick's. He's studying with Emma. He's gonna eat there and then Patrick will drop him off," Jake said as he poured the two glasses of juice.

Just then Aiden appeared next to Danny in the doorway. "Daddy, I want juice too."

Jake chuckled and came over with the two cups. "I figured. Here you go. Be careful not to spill please."

Both boys nodded and took their juice before going back to the living room.

"So when is Sam gonna be back?" Elizabeth asked, wondering how long she'd be on eggshells.

"Sometime Monday," Jake said as he took over for Elizabeth at the stove.

"How come Alexis and Julian aren't watching Danny?" Elizabeth asked.

Jake sighed in exasperation before turning to his wife. "Why do you have such a problem with Danny?"

"I don't have a problem with him. It was just a question," Elizabeth said.

"Yes, you do. Every time I agree to watch Danny or meet with Sam, you get upset," Jake said.

"You're being crazy again," Elizabeth said.

"I'm not an idiot, Elizabeth. I see how tense you are around both Danny and Sam. I can get Sam to a certain degree. I know you had your issues over Jason and your son, Jake, but why Danny. That all has nothing to do with him," Jake said in as quiet a voice as possible, both so his daughter wouldn't pick up on her parents' tension and so Danny wouldn't accidently hear.

"Jake, please stop. I don't have a problem with Sam or Danny. Let's just drop it. I don't wanna fight," Elizabeth said.

Jake sighed. "Fine. You need to understand something though. Sam and Danny matter to me. I will not cut them out of my life and I will not tell Sam 'no' when she asks me to watch Danny. I love that little boy just as much as our children," he said firmly. He cared very much for Sam and Danny. He had a connection to both of them that he would probably never understand. At this point, he didn't feel he even needed to. They were important to him and he would never cut them out of his life.

"I'm gonna go change," Elizabeth said before leaving the room.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day, Jake was in the kitchen with the kids, minus Cameron, making breakfast. Alli was in her high chair and the boys were next to her seated at the table.

"Can we have chocolate chips in the pancakes, Daddy?" Aiden asked.

"No, I don't think so. Mommy's working today and I don't need you two wired," Jake said. That was all he needed. Three already active children, one being a toddler and the other two being energetic little boys, bouncing off the walls on a sugar high when he was running solo.

"Huh?" Danny asked confused.

"It means I don't want you to be hyper," Jake clarified for the younger boy. "How about blueberries?"

"Yay!" Danny exclaimed. He loved blueberry pancakes, especially his Uncle Jake's.

"Okay," Aiden said slightly disappointed. He really wanted his chocolate chips, but he liked blueberries too.

"Great," Jake said before grabbing some blueberries from the fridge and adding them to his pancake mixture. He mixed them in and then poured some of the batter into circles in the pan.

"Uncle Jake, how come you always cook. Why doesn't Liz ever cook?" Danny asked. He didn't call her 'Aunt' like he called Jake 'Uncle' because he knew she didn't like him. She never said it, but Danny was not stupid. He could tell that Aiden's mommy didn't like it when he was around. He wouldn't tell his mommy that though because she might not let him come over as much, and he wouldn't like that. He loved Uncle Jake and wished the man was his daddy. He would love to have him as a daddy and Cam, Aiden, and Alli were his brothers and sister. It didn't matter that their mommy didn't like him anyway. He didn't really like her either.

"Mommy cooks sometimes, but Daddy's better at it," Aiden said.

"Is she bad like Aunt Carly's bad at it?" Danny asked.

Aiden made a face. "No, she's better at it than Aunt Carly."

"I think everyone is better at it than Aunt Carly, Aiden," Jake said with a grimace. He'd tried Carly's cooking exactly once. His stomach still churned thinking about it. To be fair, it was partially his own fault. He had been warned. Josslyn and Michael had been there and both told him not to do it. Joss had said quote 'If you eat it, you might die,' The then ten-year-old hadn't been far off. He'd gotten food poisoning. No one had much sympathy either, given that he'd ignored the warnings.

"Daddy got really sick after eating something Aunt Carly made," Aiden said.

"My mommy says never to eat anything she makes," Danny said.

"Always listen to Mommy, Danny, especially about that," Jake said as he flipped the pancakes.

Just then, Cameron came into the room. "I smell pancakes."

Jake chuckled at his oldest. The smell of food was usually what woke him up on the weekend. "Yup. Grab some plates. They're almost ready."

Cameron immediately grabbed a bunch of plates from the cabinet. He handed one to his father to put the plates on and brought the rest to the table. He places one each in front of his siblings and Danny, one in front of his own seat, and two in the vacant spots that his his parents would eat at.

"Thank you, Cam," Aiden said.

"Thanks," Danny echoed.

"No problem, guys," Cam said before sitting down.

"Morning," Elizabeth said as she entered the room.

"Good morning," Jake said, taking a brief break from cooking to kiss his wife good morning.

"You working today, Mom?" Cam asked. She was in her scrubs, so he guessed she had to be.

"Yeah, I've got a double shift. I won't be home until at least eleven," Elizabeth said with a grimace.

"Cam, are you still planning to go to your friend, Paul's?" Jake asked.

Cam grinned. "Yeah, it's a video game day."

"Ugh, I wish you would spend a little time away from those. Go play ball like kids used to," Elizabeth said.

"Used to are the key words, Mom. Dad, you're gonna give me a ride, right?" Cam asked.

"Unless you got your driver's license three years early," Jake said as he came over with a plate full of pancakes. He placed some on each plate and sat down. He and Elizabeth then quickly put them up for the younger kids. Elizabeth did it for Alli and Jake did it for Aiden and Danny. Then they all began eating.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Jake took the kids to the park later that day, after dropping Cam off of course. The boys immediately ran to the swings. Jake followed with his daughter. He put her in one of the baby swings and started pushing her.

"Uncle Jake, will you give me a head start?" Danny asked. He could pump on his own now, but it was hard for him to get going.

Jake went over to the boy, pulled the swing back and then let go, sending it high in air. "You want a push too, Aiden?"

"Yes, please," Aiden said.

Jake went behind his son and did the same as he did with Danny. Then he went over to Alli and started pushing her.

"I'm higher," Danny said with a grin.

Aiden, being very competitive, especially considering he was older, immediately started pumping faster.

Jake chuckled to himself. He loved the relationship Aiden and Danny had. Despite the two year age difference, the two boys were best friends. He was glad. He worried a while back that AIden might get jealous of how close he was to Danny. Well, actually, Elizabeth brought it up as a concern. But it wasn't a concern. Aiden loved Danny like a brother.

"Well, this is quite the sight," A female voice said from behind.

Jake turned and was shocked to find out who it was. He never thought he'd see her again given her condition the last he knew. "Hayden."


	3. Chapter 3

Jake was completely floored when he saw Hayden. He hadn't seen her since she was shot in the bike shop three years earlier. The last he knew about her, she was in a coma due to her injuries. He'd never heard any differently, so he thought that was still the case.

"Hey, Jake. It still is Jake, isn't it? I'm assuming you haven't learned your true name yet," Hayden said. Actually, she more than assumed. She knew it for a fact. She'd kept tabs on 'Jake' and his 'wife'.

Jake went over to Danny and grabbed his swing and brought to an abrupt stop. He then did the same to Aiden's. "Boys, I need you to watch Alli for a second while I talk to this lady. Can you push her on the swing?"

"Sure," Aiden said before going over to his sister.

Jake grabbed Hayden by the arm and led her a few feet enough so that the kids couldn't overhear, but he could keep an eye on them. "What are you doing here, Hayden?"

"Well, I came to finish what I started. I know it took me quite a while, but being shot and being in a coma for four months delays you sometimes," Hayden said.

"Four months? YOu weren't in a coma the whole time?" Jake asked surprised.

"Far from it. I know you thought that because I made sure you did. I didn't want you knowing I woke up," Hayden said.

"Why?" Jake asked.

"Well, when I found out that I'd been shot, I was pissed. I wanted to make the people responsible suffer," Hayden said.

"Hayden, I'm sorry you got shot," Jake said. He didn't like Hayden, but she didn't deserve to get hurt. She was shot because a hitman was trying to take him out. There was a part of him that had always felt guilty about it. "But no one meant for it to happen. No one wanted to hurt you."

"Oh, you're wrong about that. I know who had me shot and they will pay for it. But part of making them pay was giving them what they wanted for a while. I wanted these people to find happiness. It would make it that much sweeter when I destroyed it," Hayden said with an evil grin.

"You're not gonna destroy my family," Jake said firmly. He assumed that one of the people Hayden held responsible was him and dhs wanted him to pay for it. He really felt bad about her getting hurt, but he wouldn't allow her to come after his family.

"Oh, Jake, unfortunately for you, I am. It's nothing personal. You're not the one I want to suffer, but you will. Like I said, it's time for me to finish what I started. I was about to tell you and Sam who you really were when I was shot. Time to finish that," Hayden said.

"No. I told you last time, I don't want to hear what you have to say," Jake said. Truthfully, back then, a large part of him did want to know. He just didn't really trust Hayden to tell him anything truthful. Also, he worried about hurting any family he might have. Both those things were still true now. He didn't trust anything Hayden had to say. She was a liar. Her claiming to be his wife for money was proof of that. Plus, it had been three years. If someone was out there, they would've found him by now. And if somehow he did have people out there, they would get hurt and so would the family he had now. So while a part of him still did wonder, he wasn't inclined to find out anything anymore. All it would do was cause people pain.

"Too bad. I'm gonna tell you anyway. You need to know who you are and you need to know who knew about it and didn't tell you," Hayden said.

"I'm not listening to this anymore. I'm with my children and my nephew," Jake said before attempting to walk away.

"Nephew, huh? That's Danny Morgan, isn't it? You call him your nephew. You're close to him," Hayden said.

Jake whipped his head back towards her. "The subjects of Danny or my children are off limits to you!"

Hayden ignored him and looked over at the three kids on the swings, mostly at the blond hair, blue-eyed six-year-old. "He's cute. They say he looks like his father, don't they? Blonde hair and baby blue eyes. Hey, you've got blue eyes too."

"A lot of people have blue eyes," Jake said before looking back at Danny briefly. He was getting a bit uneasy with Hayden's sudden interest in Danny, and the observations she was making.

"True. His dad died. Jason Morgan was shot and killed on the peer. Of course, his body was never recovered, nor was there any concrete proof that he was dead," Hayden toyed.

Jake started seeing red when he realized what she was implying. He was pissed that she would dare use Sam and Danny's loss to mess with. "Don't you dare! I will not let you use that innocent little boy and his mother to screw with me!"

"Daddy?" Aiden called out, upon hearing his father's raised voice.

Jake turned back to the kids. "It's okay, Aiden. I'll be there in a second."

"That must be Elizabeth's son. He looks a bit like her. The hair and eyes are clearly from his his real father, but he's got her nose and a couple other features. The little girl looks the most like her. She's yours I'm guessing," Hayden said.

"They're both mine. Now don't speak of my kids or Danny any longer," Jake said coldly.

"But Danny is your kid. I'm sure he looked more like you before your face changed, but he definitely has your eyes."

"He's not my son," Jake insisted. He loved Danny just like his other children and often wished he could call him his son, but he wasn't. He would not let Hayden use him like this.

"He is, and I'm not the only one who knows it. Your 'wife' has known the whole time," Hayden said.

"We're done. I will not let you use Danny and tell lies about Elizabeth," Jake said before starting to walk away again.

"Come on, Jake, do you really have no inkling. You've taken that boy on as your own," Hayden said, successfully stopping the man once more. "He may call you 'uncle', but you feel something for him. Your heart recognizes him as yours. It probably does Sam too."

Jake's stomach began to constrict He couldn't deny that. He'd always had a connection with both Sam and Danny, one he couldn't understand. But it couldn't be true. Sam's husband had died. No, there hadn't been a body, but there were witnesses to his shooting.

Jake then thought about the flashes he used to get. The ones with Sam. He had been convinced that his mind was playing tricks on him due to the chip Helena had implanted, but if he was Jason, it would make sense for them to be there.

Jake looked back at Danny, at the little boy he loved like his own. Could he be his? They did have similar eyes. God, he loved Danny so much. He would love to be his father, to have the little boy call him 'daddy'. There would be problems too though. He would technically be married, but he was also with Elizabeth. The situation would hurt everyone.

Jake shook his head. Why was he even thinking about this. It couldn't be true. Danny was not his son. He was not Jason Morgan. Hayden was lying. "No."

"Yes. You're Jason Morgan, and you're starting to realize that now. You know I'm telling you the truth," Hayden said before proceeding to laugh. "How sad is it that I tell you the truth and your 'wife' didn't?"

"No!" Jake said firmly before finally turning back to her. "Even if I am Jason Morgan, Elizabeth didn't know about it.

"She knew. She's known practically from the beginning. Since right after the truth about me came out," Hayden said.

"You're lying," Jake said. As he said it though, he remembered all the times he was around Sam or Danny and Elizabeth would get nervous. He recalled how his wife seemed to hate it that he took such an active role in Danny's life. If Danny was his son and she knew that, it would make sense for her to be upset about it. But, no, it couldn't be true. She wouldn't do something like that. She knew what it was like to lose a child. She couldn't keep someone else's away from them.

Hayden smiled. "I think I've made my point. Have a nice day, Jake, and give Elizabeth my regards.

Jake watched her leave and then walked slowly back to the kids, possibly all of them being his.


	4. Chapter 4

The next day, Jake made his way through the hospital towards Patrick Drake's office. He'd spent the last day trying to forget everything Hayden told him, trying to tell himself that she was lying. But he couldn't. He spent most waking hours staring at Danny, trying to find all the similarities between himself and the boy. Hayden was right that they had the same eyes, but like he'd told her, a lot of people did. Having blue eyes didn't make Danny his. Unfortunately, that was the only real feature he could go by because the rest of his face looked a lot different than it used to, at least he assumed so. If he was Jason it certainly did.

Yes, he'd spent most of the day and night going back between whether he was or wasn't Jason Morgan, and whether he wanted to be or didn't. A large part of him wanted to be just because of Danny. He loved that child so much and it would be wonderful to call him his son, to hear the six-year-old boy call him 'daddy'. He also wished to take Sam's pain away and this would definitely do that. She could stop grieving for her husband

But this would not be happy all around. There would be a lot of pain spread around and he had wondered if it was worth it to even find out. Jake was not stupid. Despite his claim to Hayden, he knew that if she was telling the truth about him being Jason, she was telling the truth about Elizabeth too. That would destroy his whole family. Because that wasn't something he could forgive. That didn't just mean she'd kept him from his child, which alone would be unforgivable, but it also meant that their entire relationship was a lie. He hated lies in general, but this would years of lies and a relationship couldn't survive that. He couldn't let it survive that.

Jake knew that Elizabeth's betrayal would hurt worse than anything ever had, but it wasn't him he was most concerned with. He was worried about his children. Blood or not, they were all his, and they would be hurt so much by this. Danny had already been hurt. He was forced to grow up for six years without his father. He wouldn't understand this. He wouldn't understand how his uncle was suddenly his father. He wouldn't understand why he didn't have him as his dad for so long or why another family had had him in that time. He might even think Jake abandoned him and that would kill Jake. His other children would be harmed as well. Allie wouldn't understand now, as she was much too young, but eventually, she would realize what had happened to make her parents split up and it would affect her greatly. Cameron and Aiden though, would be devastated. Aiden might not understand exactly what happened, but he would understand that his mother did something bad. Cameron would understand all of it and it would destroy the teen. He would likely feel like he was losing another dad. He wouldn't, as Jake would never abandon those boys. They were his in every way that could ever matter, but Cam had bad experience when it came to fathers. All he would see was his father leaving him.

The pain would hit Sam too. She'd be glad to know her husband was alive, but hurt that he had another family. And truthfully, Jake wasn't sure what he could offer Sam if this was all true. He cared about her a lot, but he couldn't just pretend that the last three years didn't happen. He couldn't pretend he had any memories of the three years prior to that. He just didn't know what would happen

All this pain made Jake wonder if it was better that he just accept this as a lie and forget about it. It seemed like it would hurt more people than it would help. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized he could not do that. When the idea of a possible wife and children out there waiting was simply a concept, it was different. They weren't real. Now they were. They had names and faces, and they were people he cared about. He loved Danny so much and Sam was one of his closest friends. If they were his family, he wanted to know. He wanted to call Danny his son. He supposed that all made him selfish, but he needed to know.

Jake made it to Patrick's office and knocked on the door. He was hoping the doctor could answer his questions.

"Come in!" Patrick called out.

Jake opened the door and walked inside. He found the doctor seated at his desk.

"Hey, Jake. Is something up with Cameron and Emma?" Patrick asked. Both men had been keeping a very close eye on their kids, as the cute little kid 'relationship' they had when they were younger was turning more real now.

"Hi, Patrick. No, I'm not here about the kids. I need to consult with medically," Jake said.

"Is everything okay?" Patrick asked.

"First, I need to know that this conversation stays between us," Jake said. Patrick and Sam no longer dated, but they were good friends and he might feel compelled to tell her before Jake could. If it was all true, Sam needed to hear it from him.

"Of course. If you're here for medical advice, I'm bound not to reveal anything. Have a seat," Patrick said as he motioned to the chairs in front of his desk.

Jake walked over and sat down. "I may have figured out who I was before the accident and I need your help determining if it's true."

"You want me to run a DNA test?" Patrick asked confused. Any doctor could do that. Why would Jake come to him personally.

"No, that will take too long. I need to know today," Jake said. He didn't think he could face Sam when she came to get Danny tomorrow without knowing the truth. "Now, we know I had brain surgery before the accident. I'm hoping the brain scans for me and this person will overlap, proving it one way or another."

"Okay, do you have the scans of this other person?" Patrick asked.

,""No, but you do. You were the one who operated on him," Jake said.

Patrick raised an eyebrow in surprise, having had no idea that it was possible he knew Jake before the accident. Although, just because he operated didn't mean they knew each. "Okay, I'm going to need permission from a family member before I let you see the scans. How did you find out that you might be this persona anyway? Where you contacted by a possible family member."

"No. Hayden told me," Jake said.

"Hayden? She woke up from her coma?" Patrick asked surprised. He hadn't heard about Hayden Barns since not long after the gunshot wound she suffered left her in a coma. He just assumed she hadn't and wouldn't wake up.

"Yeah, years ago. She decided to wait before telling me because she wanted Elizabeth and me to find happiness so she could tear it apart and cause a lot of damage," Jake said angrily. He was pissed that Hayden had waited so long. If it was true, she had helped in harming his children and Sam.

"Oh, God. That's despicable. She was willing to hurt your family, plus this other family to get what she wanted?" Patrick asked disgusted. He and Jake weren't all that close, but they were friendly enough, and he was good friends with Elizabeth. They didn't deserve this and neither did their kids.

"Yeah. Anyway, I can't get you permission from a family member of the guy who might be me. I can't give this woman hope if it's not true." Jake said. Sam had been through more than enough. He couldn't give her hope just to take it away. It would be like her husband died all over again.

"I can't let you see scans of another patient without permission. Hey, maybe you should just forget about this. It came from Hayden. She has lied to you in the past and probably is now," Patrick said.

"If it's true, I have another son, Patrick. I have a little boy who has spent his whole life without his father and wife who thinks I'm dead. I can't let it continue. Look, you don't have to show me until you're sure. You can look at the scans yourself," Jake said.

Patrick was still very reluctant and wasn't sure he would agree, but he asked the obvious question anyway. "Who is it?"

"Jason Morgan," Jake said.

Patrick's mouth dropped open in shock. That wasn't a name he was expecting. Once he got over the shock, he was happy to know that he could relieve Jake of his suspicions right now. "Jake, Hayden is lying to you. Jason Morgan is dead."

"There was no body," Jake said.

"Jake, I know this for a fact. Jason's death was very complicated. He didn't actually die the night he was shot. He died in a clinic not far from here months later. The doctor who declared him dead was my ex-wife.

"What?" Jake asked utterly confused. He'd heard that Jason was shot and fell into the harbor. That was supposedly the last thing anyone knew about him.

"It's complicated. Sam didn't know about it until months after his death, but the Cassadines pulled him out of the harbor and took him to a clinic. My wife was brought there to save him as well as a few others. She failed with Jason," Patrick explained.

"You said Cassadines. You realize that one name alone makes me think that you're wrong, right?" Jake asked. The fact that the Cassadines were involved made him think he was Jason even more. It was a big coincidence for them both to be used by that family.

Patrick sighed. "I certainly get why you would think that, given what Helena Cassidine did to you, but Robin would not have lied about Jason dying."

"A chip was implanted in my head at some point. No one ever knew why or why she chose me. What if it happened while I was at that clinic being treated? And you just mentioned your wife. You remember when I was at your house the first time years ago. i saw her picture and I thought I knew her," Jake reminded him.

Patrick remembered that. He played it off as Jake's mind playing tricks on him, probably stemming from Helena's control, but if was Jason, he did know her. But why would Robin lie to him about Jason being dead?

"Patrick, please, I need you to help me," Jake said.

Thinking of Sam and Danny and the pain they went through over losing Jason, Patrick picked up the phone and made a call. "Yes, I need the files of Jake Doe and Jason Morgan brought to my office immediately. Thank you."

"Thanks, Patrick," Jake said as he hung up.

"I don't think this is going to pan out, Jake. Robin told me Jason was dead and she had no reason to do that," Patrick said.

"If you're right than I can at least put it behind me and move on. I won't have to look at Sam and Danny and wonder," Jake said.

Patrick nodded and the two waited. It was about ten minutes before a nurse came in with two files. Patrick took them from her and waited for her to leave before opening up the two files. He took the scans from both files. "I'm going to let you see them. If you are Jason, Sam would want you to see them. You'll believe it more either way if you see them for yourself."

Jake nodded.

Patrick got up and put the two scans up on the screen he had on the wall behind his desk.

Jake got up and and walked over to Patrick. He looked at the scans for a few seconds. "I'm no doctor, but they look really similar."

Patrick was in shock. He expected that he'd find he was right, even with the large coincidences, and the scans would show that Jake could in no way be Jason. But they showed the opposite. Patrick could quite clearly see his handiwork in both scans. "They are similar. Aside from the indications of the TBI you suffered three years ago, they're identical.

Jake slowly walked back to his chair and collapsed in it. He'd known that it was most likely true, especially after everything Patrick told him about Jason's 'death', but he still wasn't really prepared for it.

Patrick took down the scans and sat back down himself. "I can't believe it, but there is no way for you to have the exact same scans as someone else and be two different people. You are Jason Morgan."

Jake, he still couldn't really see himself as Jason, shuddered. He felt pain, betrayal, and anger almost instantly. He had been kept from his wife and son for six years. The Cassadines had started it and then Elizabeth continued it. She kept him from being a father to his child. Hell, if she'd had it her way, she would've kept him away indefinitely. She hated his relationship with Danny and wished for it to end. How could she? How could she keep him from his little boy knowing what it meant to lose a child.

Suddenly it occurred to Jake that Elizabeth's son Jake, was his son too. He'd lost a child and he didn't even know it. Well, okay, a part of him must have because he did choose the name Jake, but he didn't remember the boy. He'd had no idea that he'd been the boy's father. Elizabeth took him away too. Not physically obviously, but she certainly took the knowledge of his existence away. She'd hurt him and his family in so many ways He didn't know how he would deal with it.

"Jake, are you okay?" Patrick asked,

Jake didn't answer. He didn't have any words right now. He was too shocked, angry, and hurt to form words.

"Look, I know that this is really overwhelming. You'll obviously need to talk to Elizabeth about it. Would you like me to take your children for the night?" Patrick asked. He knew Jake was really falling apart right now. He had his own issues, given that Robin had lied to him and the questions of why were seriously nagging him, but he decided to put it aside to try to help Elizabeth and Jake.

Jake nodded and forced his feelings back a bit so he was calm enough to speak. "Yeah, I'd appreciate that. I have Danny this weekend too."

"That's fine. I'll come to your house as soon as my shift ends," Patrick said. Four kids plus his own were a bit much for him, but he could handle it for a night.

"Thank you. I need to go," Jake said before getting up and bolting for the door, having absolutely no idea where he was going.


	5. Chapter 5

It was several hours before Jake made it back home. He had been too messed up to be around his children when he left the hospital and way too angry to talk to Elizabeth. He wasn't sure he would've been able to control his anger until after his kids were out of the house, so he drove around for awhile to calm down. It worked to some extent, though he was still really angry and upset. But he was okay enough to be around his kids now.

When Jake opened the door, he found Cam sitting on the couch playing a video game. The thirteen-year-old glanced at him as soon as he saw him. "Hey, Dad."

"Hey. Where is everyone?" Jake asked

"Mom's upstairs bathing Allie and Danny and Aiden are playing in Aiden's room. Mom said to tell you there's some pizza in the oven for you. We ordered out," Cam said.

Jake nodded and went over to sit next to his son. He needed to explain something to Cameron before sending him and the others off with Patrick. The older boy would know something was wrong. "I need you to turn that off."

Cam paused his game and turned to his father. "What's up?"

"You guys are gonna be spending the night with Patrick," Jake said.

Cam frowned, knowing instantly that something was wrong. No way would his father or Emma's let him spend the night at in the same house as her. Both of them knew he and Emma liked each other and pretty much shadowed them when they were together. "Why?"

"Because I need to talk to your mom and Patrick offered," Jake said.

"You mean you're gonna fight with Mom," Cam said. His parents wouldn't usher them out just to talk, and he could tell by the look on his face and the way his father spoke that he was not happy. They were going to fight.

Jake sighed. "We have important things we need to talk about."

"You're going to fight," Cam said again. He was worried. He hated it when his parents fought, even when he wasn't there to hear it. He always worried that their marriage would end and he'd lose another father.

"Yeah," Jake admitted. He would not lie to his son. He refused to be someone his kids couldn't trust. They deserved honesty from him.

"I...Is it going to be bad?" Cam asked. He knew better than to ask what his parents would be fighting about, as he knew it wasn't his business, but he had to know if he should be worried his family was falling apart. This would not be the first time he lost part of his family from a separation.

"Cam, we've had this conversation. I will never leave you. I'm not Lucky. I'm never going to abandon you," Jake promised. Finding out he was Jason Morgan or that Elizabeth lied to him didn't change how he felt about the kids. Cameron and Aiden were as much his as Allie and Danny.

His heart soared at the last thought. Danny was his son. He'd always loved that boy like he was his and now he was. He felt so much pain and anger from what was going on, but there was a good thing. Danny was his child.

Just then Elizabeth came down with Allie in her arms. "Hey. Where were you? I was starting to get worried.

Jake stood up and barely suppressed the urge to glare at his 'wife'. She wasn't his wife. She married him knowing full well that he already had a wife. She kept him from his actual wife and his own son. He would never forgive her for that.

Allie reached her arms out for her father. "Dada."

Despite his anger, Jake smiled at his daughter before taking her into his arms. "Hey, sweetie. Daddy loves you no matter what, Allie."

"Jake, is something wrong?" Elizabeth asked having heard her husband's words.

Jake cleared his throat. "Cam, go pack what you need to take to Patrick's and ask Aiden and Danny to do the same please. Help them if they need it."

Cam nodded and wordlessly went upstairs.

"Patrick's. Why are the kids going to Patrick's, and shouldn't you have mentioned this to me before now?" Elizabeth asked.

Jake had more than a few things he could say to Elizabeth's irritation that he didn't discuss things with her, as she had made a choice, about the biggest choice in the world, without consulting him on the matter. But his children were still in the house, one still in his arms. He wouldn't do this in front of them. "Because we need to talk and I don't wanna do it in front of the children.

Elizabeth frowned. She could tell Jake was angry, but she had no idea what about. She couldn't think of anything he could be so angry about. "Okay, fine, but are you sure Patrick's is a good idea with Cameron. Supervising him and Emma, plus watching three young kids isn't easy."

Just then, the doorbell rang. Jake transferred his daughter over to Elizabeth and went to answer the door. "Can you get Alli's things together?"

Elizabeth looked at him for a minute and then walked towards the stairs.

Jake, meanwhile, opened the door. He assumed it would be Patrick, but it wasn't. Who did show up left him shocked and unsure of what to say or do. "Sam."

Sam smiled and walked passed her friend and inside. "Hey. I know I'm a day early. Things wrapped up earlier than I thought, and I am not complaining. I swear, this is the last infidelity case I agree to take.

Jake closed the door and numbly followed her to the living room.

"Where's Danny. I've missed him," Sam said.

"He's upstairs," Jake said. His heart was racing. His good friend was actually his wife and she standing in front of him. How was he going to tell her? He hadn't had time to think about it before because she was out of town and he was more preoccupied with dealing with Elizabeth.

"Jake, are you okay? You seem kind of off," Sam said. Her friend seemed really nervous and overwhelmed. Something was up.

Just then, they heard footsteps on the stairs. They looked over and saw the boys come down with their backpacks. Cam was carrying his and Danny and Aiden had them on their backs.

Danny started running to his mother when he saw her. "Mommy! You're back."

Sam bent down in time to catch her son in her arms. "Hey. I've missed you so much."

"I missed you too, Mommy," Danny said as he hugged her

Sam let go and sized her son up. She frowned when she saw he had all his things ready. "How can you already be ready to leave. You didn't know I was coming."

"Cam said we were going to have a sleepover at Uncle Patrick's," Danny said.

Sam stood up and looked at Jake. "Was this weekend a special occasion for you and Elizabeth or something? You should've told me. I would've made other arrangements.

"No, there was nothing. Elizabeth and I just need to talk and I didn't wanna do that with the kids here. I'm always happy to have Danny," Jake said before bending down to the boy's level and staring at him He'd seen and been with Danny so many times over the last three years, but it was different now. Danny wasn't just the child of his friend. This was his little boy. He couldn't speak about how happy he was when he looked at him now.

Danny smiled and threw his arms around his uncle. "I love you, Uncle Jake. I'll miss you."

Jake held onto the boy tightly. He felt so happy, but also bad at the same time. He loved this child and felt such happiness that he was his, but he was upset that he'd missed so much. He'd had times with him for these last few years, but it wasn't the way it should've been. This was his child and he should've been able to help raise him. Danny shouldn't call him, 'Uncle Jake'. He was his father and he should be allowed to call him that. "I love you too, Danny."

Sam was starting to get concerned. Something was up with Jake. He looked on the verge of a mental breakdown. She was worried about him. What the hell had happened while she was gone?

Jake let go after a minute, knowing he would start to scare Danny if he didn't. "I'm gonna see you soon, okay?"

"Okay," Danny said.

Jake stood up and looked at Sam. "Um, I need to talk to you soon. Like tonight or tomorrow."

"Okay, sure. You wanna come over after Danny goes to bed?" Sam asked.

Before he could answer, the doorbell rang again.

"I'll get it," Cam said before going to the door.

"You ready to go, Danny?" Sam asked.

"No, I have to say goodbye to Allie," Danny said.

Patrick came into the room with Cameron. He stopped dead when he saw Sam, wondering what she did or didn't know. "Sam."

"Hey, Patrick," Sam said with a smile. "You'll probably be relieved to know that you'll be one kid shorter than you were expecting. As you can see, I'm back early."

Patrick glanced at Jake questioningly, who immediately shook his head, telling him that Sam did not know he was Jason. "Uh, maybe I should take Danny anyway. I'm sure Aiden will have much more fun with him there."

Aiden, who had been disappointed to learn that his friend was leaving a day early lit up. "Can he please, Aunt Sam."

Sam could sense that something was seriously up. These kids were getting shipped to Patrick's for a reason and for some reason, Sam felt she was a part of it. "Okay, sure."

"Yay!" Aiden and Danny said at once.

Elizabeth came down a second later with Allie. "Sam, you're back. I guess you're taking Danny then."

Jake glared at her. He heard the delight in her voice and it pissed him off. She was trying to separate him and his son. Well, it wouldn't happen. She would never keep Danny from him again.

"I was, but since plans were for the kids to go to Patrick's, I guess I"ll get him from there tomorrow," Sam said.

"Oh. Well, Patrick, Allie's already. I'll see you tomorrow, baby," she said before handing her daughter over to Patrick, followed by the diaper bag.

Jake kissed his daughter on the cheek, hugged Danny and Aiden and fist bumped Cam. "Have a good time and listen to Patrick."

"I'll see you tomorrow, Danny," Sam said.

"Bye, Mommy," Danny said.

"My car's unlocked. Cam, grab your sister's car seat," Jake instructed.

Cam nodded and then all of them left.

Jake closed the door.

"Jake, what's going on?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, I thought you wanted to talk to me. Is there a reason Sam's staying?" Elizabeth asked.

Jake ignored Elizabeth. He looked at Sam and tried to find the courage and words to tell her who he was.


	6. Chapter 6

Jake stared at the two women in front of him. He was feeling a plethora of emotions right now. hurt, guilt, happiness, but mostly rage. He was so angry at what had been robbed from him. He'd lost years with his son. Yes, Sam had shared their son with him for the last three years, without knowing he was both of theirs, to an extent, but he still missed a lot. The pain his children would experience was what had him the most angry though. In fact, thinking about it now, he was getting back to the point where he could barely contain his anger, especially when he looked at Elizabeth

Sam took a step towards her friend and placed a hand on his arm in concern. "Jake, what's wrong. I can tell that you're really upset and angry right now. What's going on?"

Elizabeth, on the other hand, went from scared to jealous and upset. She had been scared because she say the anger in her husband's eyes and knew he was furious and that it was directed at her. However, she completely forgot that when she saw Sam touch her husband like that. She has no business touching Jake. He was not Sam's any longer. She had no right to touch him, and she had no right forcing her kid on Elizabeth's family.

Jake calmed slightly. Sam didn't deserve his rage and she didn't deserve to learn the truth in a horrible way due to his anger.

He took a deep breath and gently placed his hands on her arms. "Sam, I'm so sorry. This is something you should already know. I wish I had known. I'm sorry."

Now Elizabeth was terrified. Jake was talking like he knew the truth. But he couldn't, unless he remembered, because no one could've told him. Nikolas wouldn't tell him. But if he remembered on his own, he wouldn't know that she knew.

Elizabeth took a step towards her husband and Sam. "Sam, could you leave us alone? Jake and I should talk alone." She needed to get him alone and find out what her husband knew. She might be able to convince him that he was wrong if he knew the truth.

Sam looked at Elizabeth and shook her head. "Clearly Jake needs to talk to me too."

"Yeah, I do. You're not gonna make this go away, Elizabeth. I know everything and I'm going to tell Sam. I shouldn't have to. You should've told us both three years ago," Jake Polls+said with a glare.

Elizabeth's heart sank,knowing now that he definitely knew. But she might still be able to convince him that she didn't know. True, he seemed to know that she did, but someone had to tell him that. She could convince him that the person was lying. "I don't know what you mean?"

"Jake, what's going on? What should we have known?" Sam asked. She was confused and concerned. Whatever was going on had Jake very angry. She hadn't seen him this angry before.

Jake took a deep breath to try to find the words to explain this. "Hayden came to me in the park yesterday," Jake said.

Elizabeth's eyes became as wide as saucers. That was the one person he hadn't thought of. He had stopped thinking of Hayden as a threat years ago. She was in a coma and didn't appear to be coming out. Apparently she had. Although, if it was Hayden, she could probably convince Jake the woman was lying.

"Hayden woke up?" Sam asked surprised.

"Yeah, years ago. She woke up a few months after the shooting. She chose to wait to come to me because she wanted to inflict the most amount of damage possible," Jake said.

"So she told you who she was. She waited until you had a wife and children, What's terrible. I'm so sorry, Jake," Sam said. That was awful. Hayden had played with lives. She should've told Jake who he was as soon as she was able or left it alone completely. Now, he had a wife and three kids. It was going to be so hard on them and his other family.

"Jake, I don't think you should believe anything Hayden tells you. The woman did claim to be your wife years ago and she was lying," Elizabeth said.

Jake's rage was bad a hundred percent. "Do not even try to lie to me now. I know for a fact that Hayden told me the truth about who I am and you knowing about it!" Jake yelled.

"Okay, calm down. Look, Elizabeth's right, Hayden could be lying. She's probably at least lying about Elizabeth knowing who you were. She wouldn't do that," Sam said. She and Elizabeth weren't really friends, but she didn't think the woman could know who Jake was and not tell him. She wasn't that evil.

"The fact that you're defending her makes this so much worse. It deepens the betrayal. You have no idea what she's done to you and Danny," Jake said.

"What are you talking about?" Sam said confused.

Jake took a deep breath. "First, I want you to know that I have proof. I went to see Patrick and he compared my brain scans with his."

"Who's?" Sam asked.

"Your husband's," Jake finally said.

Sam was sure she went completely numb when she heard her friend's words. She couldn't feel any of her body parts. In fact, she was surprised she was still standing. Jake just told her she thought he was Jason. That kept playing over and over in her head. She opened her mouth to speak, but she couldn't form words, and even if she could, she had no idea what to say.

Elizabeth had no trouble finding something to say. She knew she had to defuse this, make it seem like she knew nothing about it. She would lose everything if she didn't. "Hayden told you you were Jason? That's not possible."

"Shut up!" Jake yelled as he whirled around to her angrily. He was sick of this. Even after she was clearly found out, the woman continued to lie. She refused to give it up and it was pissing him off.

Elizabeth flinched at his ire, but recovered quickly. "Jake, why do you think I knew about this, if it is true? How can you think I'd keep this from you?"

"Maybe because of the way you look at _my_ son. You've always hated me bringing Danny around. You did your best to hide it, but I saw it. You acted like I was crazy, but I always knew how you felt. You hated my friendship with Sam and the close relationship I had with Danny. You hated how much I loved him. You hated that the kids all saw him as a part of the family. You wanted to eliminate them from my life," Jake said in a calm, yet very angry voice.

"That's not true. I don't know why you keep thinking that," Elizabeth said.

"Oh my God! Let it go already! You knew! You knew who I really was and you lied about it for three years! Admit it, because I'm never going to believe otherwise," Jake told her.

Elizabeth just stood there trying to think of what to say to make Jake believe her, but there was nothing. She could tell that he meant it when he said nothing she said would make a difference. She wasn't going to convince him. "You wouldn't have chosen me as Jason. You never did. You chose everyone else. Sam, Carly, Sonny, Michael. You never chose me. But as Jake, you chose me. You wanted to be with me. We were supposed to be together. I was the mother of your first child!"

"A child you were content to never let me know was mine. You kept the knowledge of two sons from me!" Jake yelled.

"You would've gone back to Sam," Elizabeth cried.

"Yeah, probably. She was my wife," Jake said.

"She shouldn't have been! You and I should've been together. I've known you long before her and we shared a child together. Jake was proof that we should've been together," Elizabeth said.

Sam had watched the exchange, barely able to comprehend what was happening. Jake was Jason. Elizabeth had admitted that that was the case. She admitted to knowing about it. The man who she'd grown as close as two friends possibly could was actually her husband. He was her son's father. The hole that had been opened inside her six years ago could finally close. Jason was back. Hell, he'd been back for years.

Of course, that thought made Elizabeth's treachery sink in. She had known Jake was Jason. She took her son's father away from him. That was the worst part. She would be pissed enough at anyone just taking Jason from her and the rest of his loved ones, but Elizabeth stole from her child. That infuriated her.

Sam walked over to Elizabeth and smacked her hard across the face. "You evil bitch! You watched us grieve! You watched my son address his father as 'uncle'! You're really so evil that you would steal a little boy's father."

"No, that was you! You took Jason from Jake!" Elizabeth yelled.

Sam gave Elizabeth a dumbfounded look. "Are you insane? You took Jason from Jake! YOu manipulated him into thinking he shouldn't be a father to his own son! You told him that his life was too dangerous. You had him afraid that his world would get Jake killed. I'm not even sure you really believed it. You just wanted to punish him because he didn't wanna be with you," Sam said angrily.

"He proposed to me just after finding out Jake was his. That was when he was still with you," Elizabeth said smugly.

Sam didn't rise to the bait. "Yes, and that's not at all convenient. Let's not go there though because I don't really give a damn now. It was eleven years ago. Let's deal with now. You are a selfish bitch. You wanted Jason for yourself and you didn't care who you hurt, even your kids."

"What are you talking about? My kids weren't hurt," Elizabeth said.

"No?" Jake finally spoke again. "Have you somehow deluded yourself into thinking this isn't going to affect them? They're going to have to go through life knowing that their family was broken up because their mother lied every day for years."

"No, Jake, don't say that. We can survive this. We belong together," Elizabeth said before moving to touch him.

Jake took a step back and looked at her as if she was crazy. "You think I could still be with you after this. Even if I could look past the fact that the entire relationship was nothing but lies, I could never look past what you've done to my children. I couldn't look past the fact that you stole from my son. You robbed him of his father! And you've hurt our children. They're going to have to live with this for the rest of their lives."

"It's our children you have to think about. The boys love you. They can't lose you. And if I didn't do what I did, you wouldn't have adopted them and we wouldn't have Allie. What I did was the best thing for our family," Elizabeth said, hoping she could get him to listen for the sake of the kids.

Her words had the exact opposite effect. Jake became twice as angry. "Don't you dare use our kids to make this better! I will never regret them, but that doesn't make it okay for you to lie and steal from a little boy!"

Sam grabbed his arm to try to calm him down. "Jak… Uh, let's get out of here. I think the two of us need time alone."

Jake looked at her and then let her lead him to the door.

Elizabeth grabbed him by the arm to stop him. "Jake, no, we can get through this, don't go!"

Jake yanked his arm free and followed Sam out the door without another word. Once outside, he looked at Sam with pain in his eyes. "I'm sorry.

Sam put her arms around him. "It's not your fault. It's not your fault."

Jake held onto her and cried.


	7. Chapter 7

Jake woke up the next morning on Sam's couch. Sam had offered the night before when they left Elizabeth's. They didn't really talk about what happened yet, since both of them were physically and emotionally spent from what had gone down. They both just wanted to lay down and try to process everything.

Despite his exhaustion, Jake didn't spend a lot of time sleeping, as there was too much to think about. Jake was going to have to figure out where his life went from here. No, not Jake, Jason. He couldn't keep going by the name Jake. He was not Jake and pretending that he was just kept up the lie that Elizabeth let go on for so long. He was Jason Morgan. He needed to start seeing himself that way and having other people see him that way. He had to get used to it.

Jake… Jason, got up off the couch slowly. He walked over to the mantle where all of Sam's family pictures were. The first one he saw was of him, Sam, and Danny. It was before everything fell apart. He had his old face. He could see that he was happy. He loved Sam and their son so much.

There were more pictures of Sam and Danny and even a couple of more recent ones of him and Danny. The last one was of Danny's last birthday. The boy was in his arms smiling from ear to ear as he looked at the camera.

Jason soon heard footsteps. He turned to see Sam come down. "Hey."

"Hey. Was the couch comfortable? Did you sleep alright?" Sam asked.

"Not really, but it had nothing to do with the couch," Jason said before walking back to the couch and quickly folding the blanket.

"Yeah, I didn't sleep great either," Sam said. It had been very hard to process everything. She kept feeling like it wasn't real and she would find that she'd imagined it all.

"Thanks for letting me stay here last night," Jason said before sitting down.

"No need. This was your home long before it was mine," Sam said as she sat herself next to him. She and Danny had moved back into the penthouse after her relationship with Patrick fell apart.

Jason sighed and looked away. "I don't know how to handle this."

"Neither do I. I've dreamed about Jason, you coming back to me, but it never happened like this.," Sam said. In her dreams, Jason came back as he looked before and told her how much he loved her and Danny. Instead, he'd come back to her after being there for years, only neither of them knew it. He was someone who'd become a friend.

"I'm sorry about the way things happened last night. I should've told you elsewhere, not with Elizabeth right there. I made it too much about me and Elizabeth. I'm really sorry," Jason said.

"Jake…"

"Jason. The lie has to stop. I am Jason Morgan. I don't feel like him, but I am and I have to accept it. Taking the name will make it less confusing for my kids too, especially Allie and Danny," Jason said.

"Jason," Sam corrected herself. She felt her heart twinge just saying it. She'd missed being about to call her husband by name so much. "You didn't do anything wrong. You handled things as well as you could. You were angry and hurt and you were right to be. Elizabeth betrayed you. I still can't believe she knew the whole time."

"I knew that if I was Jason that Elizabeth knew the truth. I tried to deny that to Hayden, but I knew that she knew," Jakee… no, Jason said. He had to remember that he was Jason. He needed to accept being Jason even in his own thoughts.

"Did she really act like she didn't want Danny around?" Sam asked. That pissed her off. How dare that bitch act like her son somehow ruined her family, which was based on nothing but lies.

He nodded. "I know I should've told you, but I was worried you wouldn't let me see him as much and I didn't want to lose him. Danny never noticed to my knowledge. I would never have let him feel unwanted. Elizabeth always acted like I was crazy. She told me that it was in my head and she had no issue with Danny or you. I knew better, but I didn't really care. I wasn't going to stop coming around you. I felt connected to the two of you and I wouldn't cut you out of my life."

"I felt it too. I didn't understand it, but it's obviously because you're Jason. My God, you're Jason. I think that's just starting to hit me. I heard the words, but it didn't seem real. You're my husband. God, I've missed you so much," Sam said almost in tears.

Jason pulled her into his arms. "I'm so sorry."

"I told you, it's not your fault. The Cassadines did this and Elizabeth kept it a secret. It's their fault," Sam said through her tears as she buried her head in his shoulders. They stayed that way for a while before Sam finally pulled away.

"But I don't know if I can be what you need me to be now. Three years ago, we might have found our way back to each other, but I don't know if that's possible now. I know I'm Jason and I keep forcing myself to acknowledge that even in my head, but I don't feel like him. I'm not who he was. I'm not the man you were married to. Frankly, despite my rage, I still love Elizabeth," Jason said. The relationship with Elizabeth was over. He couldn't forgive her or be with her, but he couldn't turn off his feelings for her in one day either.

"I know," Sam said. She couldn't and didn't expect him to just forget in day the three years he'd been with Elizabeth. She didn't expect him to just suddenly want to be with her. "Look, I'm just glad you're not dead. I'm glad Danny can finally have his father.

Jason went back over to the mantle and looked at the photos. "I'm scared for him to learn the truth. It's going to be hard for him to understand. What if he thinks I abandoned him?"

Sam got up and approached. "Abandoned him? How could he ever think that? You have been there for Danny for half his life. He sees you at least once a week. You took him for the weekend with a three hour notice and it's not the first time you've done it."

"No, 'Uncle Jake' did those things. But 'Uncle Jake' is really his daddy. How will he feel when he finds that out. What if he thinks that I knew I was his father and chose to be something else because I didn't want him for a son?" Jason asked.

"He will not think that. We will explain what happened. We will get him to understand that you didn't know. He'll be happy to have you as his dad," Sam promised.

"I don't know how. I don't know how to explain it to Cameron and Aiden either. Their family is going to be ripped apart and I don't know how to help them with that. Cam's gonna think I'm abandoning him. He's already constantly worried about that. Aiden might feel the same way. God, I'm glad Allie's too young to understand this right now," Jason said.

"Lucky clearly did a number on Cameron. Maybe you should talk to him alone first. I can watch Aiden and Allie while you do it," Sam said. She wanted to help anyway she could. Those kids were victims too, just like Danny was. She wanted to help make things as easy as possible for them. It was not their fault that their mother had lied and hurt everyone, including them.

Jason looked at her and smiled. "Thanks. I'd appreciate that.

"You wanna go now?" Sam asked.

Jason nodded. "Yeah, I need to see my children.

"I'll get ready," Sam said before heading back towards the stairs.


	8. Chapter 8

Patrick opened his front door with Allie in his arms. He was pretty sure he'd find that Elizabeth and Jake… or Jason, whatever he was choosing to go by. He was half right. It was Jake and Sam there when he opened his door. "Hey, guys."

"Hey, Patrick," Jason said before taking his daughter from the man and stepping inside. "Hey, sweetie. Did you have a good night?"

"Yeah," Allie said.

"Thanks for watching them, Patrick. I hope they were good for you," Jason said.

"Well, the boys kept me on my toes. Danny and Aiden were running around like crazy. Cam and Emma just laughed as I tried to calm them down. But I was happy to help you guys," Patrick said.

"I really owe you for taking them all. Five kids and one parent aren't good odds," Jake said.

"Where are they? Sam asked.

"Upstairs. Guys, come down!" Patrick called.

Aiden and Danny came down first and ran to their parents. "Mommy, Uncle Jake!"

"Hey, did you have fun?" Sam asked her son.

Danny nodded. "Cam and Emma gave us candy."

"What?" asked a dumbfounded Patrick.

"You weren't supposed to tell, remember?" Emma scolded good naturedly as she and Cam came down.

"You said not to tell Uncle Patrick. I told my mommy and Uncle Jake," Danny said.

Patrick looked at his daughter in disbelief. "The two of you were sugaring them up? You wanted to see me run after two hyper kids all night?"

Cam and Emma both grinned. "Sorry, Dad, but we thought it would be hilarious and we were right. It was awesome.

Jason went to scold Cam, but his smile gave him away. "You were supposed to help him, not make it worse."

Cam shrugged.

"Daddy, where's Mommy?" Aiden asked.

Jason's smile faded. "Uh, she's still at home. You'll see her later."

"Uh, have you guys had breakfast yet?" Sam asked.

"Not yet. I didn't get that far. I was about to start that when you showed up," Patrick said.

"Okay, well, how about you two, Allie, and I go to Kelly's and get some breakfast?"Sam asked.

"Yay!" Aiden and Danny both exclaimed.

Cam frowned, noticing that he and his dad were both left out of that. It was to him it meant his father had asked Sam to keep the others busy while the two of them did something else.

Jason noticed his son's look and quickly nodded, silently telling the boy that they would be talking soon. Then he turned to the others. "Okay, let's go get your things together."

The older kids all headed up the stairs. Jason followed with Allie.

Patrick turned to Sam once he was sure the kids wouldn't hear. "How are you?"

Sam sighed and went and sat down on the couch. "I don't even know how to answer that right now. I'm many things. I'm of course happy my husband is alive, though it is shocking that he's someone I've known for years. I'm also pissed off that it was kept from me for so long."

"Yeah, what Hayden did wasn't right. She kept it a secret for years just to screw with people," Patrick said. He was disgusted by that. Hayden had let people grieve for this man. She'd denied an innocent child the right to know his father. It was terrible.

"I'm not talking about Hayden. Hayden is a bitch and she'd better hope we don't cross paths, but she showed up as someone Ric paid to lie to Jason and I've known that for years. I wouldn't expect anything different from her. Elizabeth is the one I want to murder," Sam said. She whispered the last part so the kids wouldn't hear. She hated Elizabeth and wanted to kill her, but she would not talk bad about the woman in front of her children. They didn't deserve that.

"What are you talking about? Elizabeth didn't know. She would never do something like this," Patrick said. Elizabeth knew what it meant to lose someone you loved. She wouldn't put others through that.

"She admitted it, Patrick," Sam told her.

"What?" Patrick asked in shock.

"Jason knew that she knew and he wasn't hearing anything else. She finally realized it and admitted it. She told him how he should've been with her the whole time. She told him how much they belonged together," Sam said in a disgusted tone.

Patrick was baffled. He couldn't believe Elizabeth would do that. How the hell did she justify it? Sam was one thing, though even that was horrible, but how did she live with herself knowing that she was keeping Danny from his father. That kid spent a lot of time with them. How could she even look at him knowing what she was doing?

"I wanna kill her. It's not even about me. I would still be pissed, but I could somewhat understand it. But she stole from my child! My son has spent his whole life without his father. All he had of Jason was pictures. And yeah, I know I have made horrible choices when it comes to kids in the past, but…"

"No, Sam, you have every right to be pissed. Yes, you've made mistakes, but you were in my opinion, on the verge of a breakdown, and you made amends for them. Elizabeth has kept this up for years and probably still would've if she hadn't been caught," Patrick said.

Just then, Jason came back down with kids. They all had their things together. "Okay, everyone is ready to go."

Sam plastered a smile on her face. "Great. You guys ready for breakfast."

Aiden and Danny both yelled that they were.

Jason handed his daughter over to Sam and then gave her the diaper bag. "I'll see you soon, sweetheart."

"Okay, guys, let's go," Sam said before leading them to the door.

"What's going on?" Cam asked as soon as they were gone.

"We're gonna go for a ride," Jason said.

Cam became more worried by the second. Something big was going on and he knew it had to do with whatever was up with his dad yesterday. He'd been worried since then and it only got worse. "What's wrong?"

"Everything will be okay, son. Let's just go for a ride," Jason said.

Cam nodded reluctantly and headed for the door.

"Thanks again, Patrick," Jason said.

"No problem. Good luck," Patrick said.

Jason nodded and followed his son out of the house.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Jason took Cam down to the peer. They both found looking at the water calming and Jason found it fitting, as this was where everything started.

Cam sat down with his father by the water. "What's going on, Dad? Why did you send Aiden and Allie off with Sam."

"Because there's something you and I need to talk about alone. Something has happened and I think you're gonna be the one the most hurt by it, as the other kids aren't even going to be able to understand it at first," Jason said.

"What is it?" Cam asked with trepidation.

"I found out who I was yesterday. As you know, I've had no memory of who I was before I met you. Someone recently told me who I was and I got proof," Jason told him.

Cam began to get even more scared. His father had already told him this would hurt him. Did he have another family? Was he leaving them? Cam couldn't deal with that. He couldn't lose another dad.

"Who I am and what really happened to me turned out to be really complicated. People weren't looking for me because I didn't actually disappear the night of the accident and because they thought I was dead," Jason said.

"Wh...what's your real name?" Cam asked afraid.

"Jason. I'm Jason Morgan," he told him.

Cam was shocked. He of course knew of Jason Morgan, everyone did. He had a few memories as a child when his mom was around him a lot, but he also knew about him from around town. Jason Morgan was Sam's husband and Danny's father. "Y...you're Danny's dad."

"Yes."

"Sam's your wife. That means you and Mom aren't really married. Are you going back to Sam?" Cam asked. His fear was very evident now. His voice had started to break, his eyes were wide with both hurt and fear, and he was fidgeting nonstop.

"I really don't know where things stand with Sam. We both agree that we can't really just pick up from six years ago. It's been too long and I still have no memories. I'm not the same person she married," Jason said.

"What about Mom?" Cam asked. He was very aware that his father had not mentioned his mother at all yet and it scared him.

Jason sighed. He knew this conversation was only gonna get worse for Cam. "Your mother loves you, Cam. I don't want you to question that and I don't want you to be mad at her on my behalf."

"S...she didn't have anything to do with this, did she?" Cam asked. He didn't think his mom could do something like this, but the way his dad was talking made it sound like she had.

"She had nothing to do with what happened six years ago, but she found out the truth before we got together and she didn't say anything," Jason told him.

Cam had been fighting the urge to cry throughout the entire conversation, but at that moment, he lost the fight and broke. His mom had torn apart his family. His dad was going to leave them because she lied to him and the rest of them for years.

Jason put a hand on the teen's shoulder. It's gonna be okay. I'm not leaving you, Cameron. Things with your mom may be over, but I'm not leaving you."

"I've heard that before," Cam cried. That was what Lucky had told him when he left his mother. He kept it for a little bit, but then disappeared. It would happen again.

"I'm not Lucky. I'm not leaving you. I am your father!" Jason said firmly.

Cam wiped the tears from his eyes. "If that's true then let me live with you."

"What?" Jason asked taken off guard.

"I want to live with you when you and Mom split up," Cam said. He was angry at his mom and didn't want to be around her, plus it was the only way he could be sure he wouldn't lose his dad.

"Cam, you do not have to live with me to ensure that I stay around. I will not leave you," Jason promised.

"That's not the only reason. I don't want to live with Mom after this," Cam said.

Jason sighed. He didn't like Cam's anger at his mother. He didn't want that destroyed because of what she did. But he understood the kid's anger and knew he couldn't do anything for it at the moment. Besides, Elizabeth wasn't his problem right now. His kids were what mattered. "I want you to take a while to think about this. You haven't had a lot of time to deal with it. Give it a couple of days."

"And if I still want to live with you?" Cam asked knowing he would not change his mind.

"Then you can," he said.

Cam leaned forward into his father's arms, needing the man's comfort right now.


	9. Chapter 9

Sam and the kids were sitting at a table at the outside dining area at Kelly's eating breakfast. Well, the kids were eating. Sam wasn't so hungry. The last twelve or so hours had been hectic and she was still reeling.

"Mommy, How come Uncle Jake and Cam didn't come eat with us?" Danny asked.

"Because Uncle Jake and Cam needed to talk for a little while," Sam said. She cringed when she called Jason 'Uncle Jake'. Jason should not be 'Uncle Jake' to Danny. There should be no 'Uncle Jake'. They needed to tell him soon, today preferably. Danny had gone long enough without being able to call someone 'Daddy'.

"Is Cam in trouble?" Aiden asked.

"No. Your dad just wanted to talk to him alone about something," Sam told him.

"How come we didn't have to go to school today?" Danny asked. It was Monday and that was a school day. The only time he was ever allowed to miss school was when he was sick. He didn't mind though. He liked school. Cam and Aiden didn't really like it, but he did.

"Who cares? I don't like school," Aiden said.

Sam chuckled. "You'll be going back to school tomorrow. Today is kind of a special day."

"Why is it special?" Danny asked.

"Well, special isn't the right word. Uncle Jake needs us all around today," Sam said. It was the best way for her to explain without actually telling them anything.

"Why? Is Daddy upset?" Aiden asked.

Sam was saved from answering when a new voice interrupted. "Well, look at this little party."

Sam turned to see Hayden. She felt anger rise inside her. This was another person who'd kept Jason from her and her son. She blamed Elizabeth the most, but she hated Hayden too. Yes, Hayden told the truth, but she waited three years, and did so on purpose. She wanted to create as much damage as possible, giving no thought to how it would affect four kids. "Hayden, get out of here."

"It's a public place, Sam," Hayden said with a smile before looking at the boys. "Hey, guys. Remember me? I saw you at the park. I'm friends with your dad."

"I don't think you're his friend. He didn't seem to like you," Aiden said. He knew very well that this lady was not his father's friend. He'd heard him yell at her and even the way he looked at her told him he didn't like her too much.

"Oh, I just had to tell him something he didn't like to here. I told him that Danny is his…"

Sam jumped up and grabbed Hayden by the arm. "Boys, stay there. I'll be right where you can see me," she said before dragging the women several feet away. "What is wrong with you?! It's not enough that you've turned those kids' lives upside down forever. Now you think you're gonna make it worse for them?"

Hayden shrugged. "I'm just telling them the truth. I'm surprised by your anger. I thought you'd be happy to learn that your husband was alive."

"You know damn well why I'm not happy! You waited years to come forward and tell the truth! That shouldn't surprise me though. You showed up conning an amnesiac into believing you were his wife just for some cash!" Sam whispered harshly.

"You've got nerve judging me. From what I hear, you were a con too," Hayden said.

"Maybe, but not even I have gone so far as to take advantage of a man with Amnesia. Not to mention that you brought his kids into it. You waited until he had a family before you ripped his life apart. Now you're here trying to make it worse. You're actually attempting to spring all of this on eight and six-year-old. Is there any decency inside of you?" Sam asked angrily.

"Are you forgetting that I tried to tell 'Jake' who he really was? I got shot for trying," Hayden said.

"And you blame Jason. Jason didn't shoot you. He saved your life!" Sam exclaimed as quietly as possible.

"I don't blame him. He's just a casualty in my revenge. You and those kids too. I blame his 'wife' and her co-conspirator, the one who ordered the hit," Hayden said.

"What?" Sam asked confused. She didn't understand what the hell Hayden was talking about. She was shot because a hit had been put out on Jason by Sonny because of Duke's death. And she had no idea what Hayden meant by co-conspirator. Hayden had told her right after she was shot that someone else knew who Jason was, but she assumed that Elizabeth.

"Yeah. I wasn't shot because someone wanted Jake dead. I was shot because I was gonna tell him the truth," Hayden said.

"You're crazy. You really think that shooting was about you?" Sam asked.

Hayden nodded. "I know exactly who shot me. It was your cousin, Nikolas. He knows the truth as well," Hayden said.

Before Sam could even react, Jason came around the corner with Cameron. "What's going on?"

Hayden smiled at him. "Hey. We were just catching up."

"Get out of here," Jason ordered.

"Sure. See you later," Hayden said before walking away.

"Are you okay?" Jason asked Sam.

Sam wasn't sure if she was okay. Hayden had just told her that a member of her own family had kept her husband away from her. Yes, Nikolas had done some questionable things these last few years, but could he really betray her like this?

"Sam?" Jason questioned.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Hi, Cam. How are you doing?" Sam asked.

"I'm really sorry," Cam said. He felt bad about what his mom had done. It was so wrong that she'd hurt Sam and Danny this way. He felt he owed her an apology for his mom.

"No!" Sam said firmly before pulling the boy into her arms. "You haven't done anything wrong. You were just an innocent little boy who fell in love with the man your mother brought home. You're not responsible for what she's done."

Cam hugged her for a minute and then pulled away. "I feel bad that we had him while you and Danny didn't."

"I don't want you to feel bad about that. It's not your fault. I don't hold anything against you or your siblings because you had Jason. You deserved to have a father who loved you and put you first, and your father does love you. I hope you realize that. He's not like Lucky. He's not gonna disappear," Sam assured him.

"Thanks," Cam said.

Jason put his arm around Cam. "Come on, let's join your brothers and sister and get something to eat."

Cam nodded and went with his dad. Sam followed them.


	10. Chapter 10

Jason was back in Sam's living room an hour later. Sam was upstairs getting the children occupied so they could talk further. Jason right now was checking his phone. He'd turned it on silent the night before, not wanting to hear anything from Elizabeth.

Checking his phone, he saw that he had numerous calls and messages from Elizabeth. Just seeing them made him angry. Scrolling down, he saw that he also got a few calls from Michael that morning. He cringed seeing those. It had slipped his mind to call Michael. He was supposed to be at ELQ for work that morning. He, Michael, and Sam were able to get control of ELQ from Nikolas and he went back to work for Michael.

Suddenly something hit Jason full force. Michael was his nephew. He hadn't had time to think about that with everything else. He had been too concerned with how his children would be affected and the pain of Elizabeth's betrayal that he didn't really think about anyone else, like Michael, Monica, Carly, and everyone else that loved him.

Jason sighed and dialed Michael's number. He wouldn't tell him the truth on the phone of course, but he needed to let him know everything was okay. He knew Michael had to be worried.

Sure enough, Michael's voice sounding very concerned when he picked up. _"Jake, are you okay? I've been calling all morning."_

"Hey, Michael. I'm really sorry. I should've called you this morning. I never even thought about it. Last night and today have been really hectic," Jason said.

" _What's wrong? Is someone hurt? Are your kids okay?"_ Michael asked concerned.

"No, no one's hurt. Listen, I will come by in the next day or two to talk to you and Monica," Jason said.

" _Okay, now that's scaring me a bit."_

"No, it's okay. It's just really complicated and I can't get into it on the phone. Give me a day or two and I'll be there. I'm also going to need at least a week off to handle some things," Jason said.

" _Of course. I'll see you soon,"_ Michael said.

"Yeah. Bye, Michael," Jason said before hanging up.

Sam came down a second later. "The boys are in my bedroom. Danny and Aiden are watching a movie and I set Cam up on my laptop. Allie's napping in Danny's room and I have his old baby monitor," she said as she held it up.

"Thank you for being so kind to my kids, especially Cam. Thank you for what you said to him," Jason said. He had been really touched by the way Sam had treated Cameron. She'd hugged him and reassured him both that what happened wasn't his fault and that Jason would always love him. The scene glaringly reminded him how different Sam was to Elizabeth. Sam tried his kids with Elizabeth wonderfully even after knowing what Elizabeth had done, but Elizabeth couldn't do the same with Danny.

"Of course. I was horrified by his apology. I was not going to let him take the blame for it and I certainly wouldn't let him feel bad for having a father that loves him," Sam said.

"He's really messed up by this. I was right, he was scared I would take off on him. He's asked to live with me to ensure that I won't leave him," Jason said. Cam had told him that it wasn't the only reason, but he did think it was the biggest one.

"Elizabeth won't like that," Sam commented.

"I don't care. Elizabeth isn't my problem. I need to make things okay for my kids. If Cam needs to live with me, he will," Jason said firmly.

"Good for you," Sam said.

"So what happened with Hayden?" Jason asked.

Sam stiffened at the mention of her conversation with that woman. Hayden's accusation of Nikolas hit a nerve and only got worse the more she thought about it. It wasn't just keeping Jason away from her, although that was more than enough. Hayden accused Nikolas of putting a hit out on her to keep her quiet. Could her cousin really be that evil? Did he really want the truth about Jason kept quiet so much that he was willing to kill?

"What's wrong?" Jason asked concerned.

Sam sighed before walking over to the couch and sitting down. She waited for Jason to sit too before speaking. "Hayden says that Elizabeth isn't the only one who knew who you really were. Nikolas knew too."

Jason couldn't really say he was too surprised to hear that. Nikolas had proved to be a conniving bastard. He proved that by snaking ELQ away from Michael. "I can't say that shocks me. I know he's your cousin, but I haven't trusted him since what he did to Michael. I don't think anything would surprise me."

"Hold that thought. Hayden doesn't think that Shawn is the one who shot her. She thinks Nikolas did it to keep her quiet," Sam told him.

Now that stunned Jake. Keeping his identity was one thing, but they were talking about murder. Would Nikolas really try to murder someone to keep the truth from him? And did Elizabeth play any part in it? "What?"

"I don't know if it's true. It's really extreme. Nikolas had reason to not want your identity to come out. He would've lost his bid for ELQ if you turned out alive. He was still working on his takeover back then. This would've stopped it in its tracks. Not to mention he always had a soft spot for Elizabeth and would've kept the secret for her benefit. But I don't want to believe he'd actually kill," Sam said. If Nikolas even knew about it, she was done with him, but for the sake of her mother and sisters, who loved him very much, she didn't want to think he'd do this.

"If Nikolas did this, what are the odds that Elizabeth didn't know about it?" Jason asked.

"That's a pretty extreme step to take. Elizabeth did some awful things, but do you really believe she'd condone murder?" Sam said.

"I don't know. A couple of days ago, I wouldn't have thought she'd keep my identity a secret. I can't trust her anymore. I don't think I ever ever knew who she really was. I don't know if she's capable of this. But if she is, my kids aren't safe with her," Jason said. If Elizabeth was capable of being involved in a hit just to keep someone quiet about his life, who knew what else she was capable. The thought made his stomach twist in knots because she'd been left alone with Danny before. Had she ever considered harming his son? He didn't wanna think so, but he couldn't trust anything regarding her anymore.

"Okay, calm down. We don't even know if Nikolas really did do this. It could be a baseless accusation. Hayden could've said it just to rile us up. She's lied in the past.

Jason nodded and tried to calm down, but in his head, he was thinking of his kids and how to shield them. He was pretty clear on one thing. Until he knew for sure what part Elizabeth played in what happened to Hayden, he was not leaving her alone with his kids.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Elizabeth made her way through the hospital for her shift. She was of course in a really bad mood. Her husband wasn't answering his phone or calling her back. He'd taken off with Sam, just like she'd always feared. Even though they had three kids and memories together, he left with the bitch that had stolen him from her in the first place. But she would get him back. She would find a way to make him realize they belonged together.

Sam walked to the nurse's station and spotted Patrick. "Hey, Patrick."

"Elizabeth," Patrick said coldly as he searched for a file.

"Thanks for watching the kids. Alli's in the daycare center, right? I assume you dropped the boys off at school," Elizabeth said.

"No, I didn't. Aiden and Allie are with Sam and Danny and Cam is with Jake. Oh, no, I guess that would be Jason," he said.

"You let Sam take my kids?" Elizabeth asked annoyed.

"No, their father did. Jake seemed to wanna be alone with Cam, probably to explain everything to him," Patrick said.

Elizabeth shook her head. "No, Jake wouldn't do that. He wouldn't tell him without me. He wouldn't make choices like that for our kids without me."

Patrick could've said something about that, but he chose not to. He didn't wanna get involved. "Whatever. I don't have your kids anymore and I have to get back to work. So do you."

"Patrick, are you mad at me?" Elizabeth asked.

"Yes, I am. I'm also appalled and horrified. I never would've thought you'd sink this low. What's wrong with you. Jake… Jason was a patient in this hospital and you are a freaking nurse! You are supposed help patients, but you took advantage of one! You kept a man away from his family," Patrick whispered harshly.

"I didn't know when he was a patient. I didn't find out until the night Carly exposed Hayden and Ric. By then, you and Sam were happy with together. I didn't want to…"

"Don't you dare use me to justify this!" Patrick exploded, causing several people to look in his direction. He quickly apologized to them and lowered his voice, though it was still quite cold. "You did not do this for me or Sam and I won't listen to you use us as an excuse! Sam as with me for the same reason I was with Sabrina when I thought Robin died. She couldn't be with the person she really loved."

"Jason and I belonged together. The fact that we made our way to each without knowing who the other was is proof," Elizabeth said, pleading with him to understand.

"If you really believed that, you would've told the truth and had faith that Jason would pick you. But you know what? That's not my problem. It sickens me, but it's between you and Jason. I'm more concerned with Robin, who you apparently thought nothing about."

"What are you talking about. Robin had nothing to do with any of this," Elizabeth said.

"Robin saved Jason. She knew he was alive, yet she told me he was dead. Why do you think she would do that? Because she was being threatened! I've spent every free moment thinking about what could've happened to her. Robin lied about Jason and she probably lied about why didn't come home. I've been on the phone with Anna, Mac, Maxie, and Robert. None of them have spoken with her. No one's heard anything from her since she last talked to me and Anna. That tells me one thing. She hasn't come home because she can't. She's a Goddamned hostage again! And because of you, it's lasted another three years!" Patrick said angrily.

"No, Patrick, that can't be true. I'm sure Robin's fine," Elizabeth said.

"No one involved in this situation is fine. You sacrificed everyone, including young kids to get your hands on Jason. You can go to hell. I have to get to work. Once I'm done, I have to try to find my wife. Excuse me," Patrick said before grabbing the file he'd been looking for and walking away.


	11. Chapter 11

Jason was seated on the couch with Danny and Aiden on either side of him. Sam was on the other side of Danny, holding an old picture of Jason. They were about to tell them that Jason was also Danny's father. Cam and Allie were both still upstairs. Allie was too young to understand what was going on and Cam already knew and opted not to be present for the explanation again.

"Okay, guys, we have to tell you something and you have to listen well, okay? Sam asked.

Both boys nodded.

Jason took a deep breath and tried to find the right words to explain this to his sons. This was almost worse than when he told Cam. Cam, he'd known would be hurt by it and he hated that, but he knew the boy would understand. How was he supposed to make an eight and six-year-old understand all this? "You guys remember that I got hurt a long time ago, right? How I can't remember anything before I met you?"

"Yeah, you hurt your brain," Aiden said.

"Yes, I did. I hurt it so bad that I forgot everyone from before I got hurt. I didn't even remember who I was. I took a new name because I couldn't remember my old one. I just learned what my new name was though and I learned about people I knew before I got hurt," Jason said.

"Are you gonna use your old name?" Danny asked.

"Yes, I am, but that's not the important thing right now. Like I said, I found out about a lot of people I knew before I got hurt, and I know most of those people now too," Jason said.

"Did you know, Mommy?" Aiden asked.

Jason stiffened slightly. "Yes, I knew Mommy. I also knew Aunt Sam and Danny."

"You knew me?" Danny asked surprised.

"Yes, I did. I've known you since you were a baby, though I don't remember it," Jason said with a sad smile.

"Wow. Did you know my daddy too?" Danny asked.

"Uh, Danny, we actually have to talk about Daddy for a minute," Sam said before handing Danny the picture of Jason. "That's Daddy, right? I've showed you his picture many times and you even have one by your bed."

Danny nodded. "He died. He's in Heaven."

"That's what I told you and that's what I thought was true, but it wasn't," Sam said.

"Huh?" Danny asked confused. He didn't understand what his mommy meant when she said that it wasn't true his daddy was in Heaven. She told him a lot of times that his dad was in Heaven and couldn't come home. He didn't really understand that for a long time. He didn't understand why his daddy had left him to go to Heaven and why he didn't come back. He knew how though that it meant he died and you couldn't come back from being dead.

"I know you're confused, Honey. It doesn't usually happen that we're wrong about people dying. That's what happened this time though. We thought Daddy died because he was hurt badly and then we couldn't find him. But what happened is that some very bad people hid him away from us," Sam explained.

"Is he still hidden?" Danny asked.

"No. Daddy found his way home. He got away from the bad guys and wanted to come home. He wanted to see you. But the bad guys found him again and he got hurt again. He hurt his head and his face. His face was hurt so badly that they couldn't really fix it back the way it was. They had to give him a new one," Sam said.

"You can get a new face?" Aiden asked awed.

"If you need to," Jason answered.

"So Daddy doesn't look like this anymore?" Danny said.

"No, he looks different now, and he also doesn't have any memories. His brain was hurt bad and they went away," Sam said.

"Like Uncle Jake's," Danny asked.

Sam looked at Jason for a minute and then decided that they just needed to come out and say it. "Uncle Jake is your daddy, Danny."

Danny turned around to his uncle and looked at him awestruck, with his mouth popped open. "You're my daddy?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry you haven't known that. I didn't know it either. I was so happy when I found out. I love you very much and I always thought of you as my son," Jason told him.

"You're really Danny's daddy?" Aiden asked just as surprised as his friend.

Jason turned to the older boy. "Yes, but I'm still your daddy too. You have to understand that this doesn't change the way I feel about you, Cam, and Allie. I love all of you very much."

"So then Danny's my brother, right?" Aiden asked.

"Yes, he is. But you guys are already like brothers, I don't think much will change," Jason said.

"Danny, do you understand what we've told you?" Sam asked. Her son had been pretty quiet since they told him. She expected a bunch of questions.

Danny didn't answer, but he did understand. He understood that his uncle was really his daddy. He was happy about it. He always wanted Uncle Jake to be his daddy. He always acted like a daddy was supposed to and he wanted that. He wanted Uncle Jake, Cam, Aiden and Allie to be in his family. It was his biggest wish and it came true.

Danny suddenly jumped up and launched himself into his father's arms. "I love you, Daddy.

Jason could not stop the tears of joy from flowing as he held the little boy in his arms. Danny called him Daddy. That one word always affected him so much, but no more so than with Danny now, probably because he always wished to be able to have Danny call him that, but didn't think it could ever happen. He always wanted Danny to be his son. Now he could say that the boy was. He would get to hear the boy call him what he'd always wished he would call him.

Sam was crying as well after hearing her son's words. She'd spent nearly six years broken hearted over the fact that her son would never utter those words to anyone. Yes, he'd called Patrick Daddy one, but that had brought her anything but joy. It hurt her to hear him say that to anyone but Jason. Jason was the only one who should have that word directed at him by Danny and she thought he never would. It broke her heart. But now he had it. He got to hear and would continue to hear their son call him Daddy. She was so happy. All she'd ever wanted was for her husband and son to have a relationship. That dream was finally made into a reality. Her son had his father.


	12. Chapter 12

Jason stood outside the Quartermaine mansion a few hours later and ran the doorbell. He needed to tell Monica and Michael who he really was before anyone else found out. For all he knew, Hayden was spreading the news around like a reporter would. She had made it clear she had no problem announcing the information, as she'd tried to do it with his children just that day. He couldn't let Monica or Michael find out any other way than from him.

The door was opened a second later by Michael. "Jake. Come in. I've been really worried."

Jason walked inside. "I told you that everything was okay."

"You also made it clear that something was up, saying you needed to tell me and my grandmother something. I've been playing a bunch of scenarios in my head since we got off the phone, though none of what I've thought of can account for my grandmother being involved," Michael said. Jake and his grandmother got along pretty well. She really liked Jake and how he'd fought to save the family company. But they were really just friendly acquaintances. Michael couldn't think of anything Jake would have to tell her.

"I'm pretty sure that whatever you've thought of is far from the truth. This is something you would never have considered. Is your grandmother home?" Jason asked.

"Yeah, she's in the living room," MIchael said before leading the way into the room.

Monica was seated on the couch when she heard them come in. She immediately stood up. "Hello, Jake. Michael said you'd be coming soon. He said you had something to tell the two of us. He's been very worried about it actually."

"Yeah, I'm sorry, but I just couldn't tell him what was going on over the phone and I couldn't come right away because I had to explain what was going on with my children first," Jason explained.

"The more you say, the more concerned I get. What's going on?" MIchael asked.

"Can we sit. This is really shocking and complicated," Jason said.

"Of course," Monica said before sitting back down on the couch. Michael sat with her.

Jason sat in a chair by them and took a breath. He wasn't sure how to do this. You'd think it would get easier with everyone he told, but it didn't. "I found out who I really was yesterday."

"You got your memory back?" Michael asked surprised.

"No. I was told by someone who'd learned the truth years ago and had it confirmed by medical records and later Elizabeth. This is true. Patrick Drake compared the medical records to confirm it. You can call him," Jason said.

"Jake, I know you'd never lie to me," Michael said. Jake was a lot like Jason. Neither man liked to lie. Jake was always brutally honest with him, just like Jason was. He trusted him.

"It's gonna be really hard to believe, Michael. It's pretty out there. The reason I was never able to figure out who I was and why no one seemed to be looking for me is because they thought I was dead. I had already been away from my family for two years when the car accident happened. I think I must have been trying to get back to them. I almost made it when I got hit," Jason said.

"Oh my God. Someone allowed your family to think you were dead?" Monica asked horrified. She knew how it felt to hear that people you loved were dead. She heard it with her husband and children. It was terrible and someone had intentionally done it to Jake's family.

"Who? Why would anyone do that?" Michael asked coldly. He was angry that anyone would do that to his friend.

"The Cassadines. I guess they wanted him as their puppet. During that time had to be when the chip was planted," Jason said.

"Why you?" Monica asked.

"I guess because I had skills they wanted. Before it happened, i spent my life doing things that weren't legal," Jason said. Of course that was an understatement. He was a damned hitman. He really didn't know how to feel about that and had been trying really hard not to think about it. "As you both knew from the things I did while under Helena's control violence and weapons are far from foreign to me. I worked for the mob apparently."

"In Port Charles?" Michael asked surprised. He mentally went through a list of people that worked for Sonny and who might have been thought dead at around the same time Jake would've been taken. If it was two years prior to Jake showing up then it would be about five and a half to six years.

Jason nodded. "I worked for Sonny. I was shot on the peer and tossed into the water. I was fished out by the Cassadines. I am Jason."

The room was completely silent for several moments. Jason looked between Monica and Michael, seeing shock, as well as well as disbelief, yet hope on both their face.

Michael hardly believed what he just heard. In fact, if he'd heard it from anyone but Jake, he was pretty sure he wouldn't believe it. He would've called the man a liar and thrown him out. But he knew Jake. Jake wouldn't lie and certainly wouldn't be cruel. Besides, Michael could find the parallels between his uncle and Jake. The name Jake itself was a connection to Jason. Jake was the name of Jason's son. He could've recognized the name unconsciously from him. There was also the close relationships he had with everyone Jason loved. Well, everyone but Sonny. He also had some, though not all, personality characteristics, that Jason had.

Monica was also floored. This man was claiming to be her son. She didn't know whether or not to believe it. She wanted to, but she didn't see how it could be. She could tell that he at least believed that it was. She knew that he wasn't making this up to get something. He believed it, and he said he had proof. Could he really be her son.

"How told you this, Jake?" Michael asked, trying very hard not completely get his hopes up He needed more information before he allowed himself to totally believe it. Jake wouldn't lie, but that didn't mean someone hadn't lied to him. True, there were very compelling reasons to believe it, but he needed more.

"Hayden Barns. She woke up from her coma a few months after she was shot. She chose to wait to tell me so she could do as much damage as possible. Before you say it, I know Hayden's a liar. I had doubts. That's why I got Patrick to compare the medical records of Jason Morgan and me. He confirmed that they were almost identical. The only difference was the damage that was inflicted after the accident," Jason explained.

"That would be impossible unless you were the same person. Y...You're Jason," Monica said in a shaky voice.

Jason nodded.

Monica stared at him for a few minutes, looking in his eyes. They were the same. She should've known by his face. She should've recognized her own son's eyes. "Oh my God."

"So the Cassadines faked your death? Did Nikolas know?" Michael asked.

"Hayden says he did. She says he kept it a secret to get his hands on ELQ. My vote would've cost him the CEO position if the truth came out," Jason said.

"He kept this a secret for business?!" Michael asked angrily. ELQ was important to him, but it was a company. It wasn't something he'd destroy lives for. And if it had came down to it, he would've given it up to NIkolas if it meant getting his uncle back.

"At first at least. I think after he lost the company, he kept it up for Elizabeth. She probably asked him not to tell anyone," Jason said.

"Elizabeth knew?" Monica asked with anger in her voice. She didn't like Elizabeth, but she hadn't believed the woman would do something like this. She'd kept a man away from his own child. She'd conned him into marriage when he had absolutely no memory. She manipulated him, just as Sonny Corinthos had right after he'd lost his memory the first time.

Jason nodded. "She admitted it. She kept it a secret because I apparently belonged with her. She doesn't even seem to regret it."

"She kept you from your family? Danny spends time at your house like every week. How could she look at him and not tell you he was your son?" Michael asked in disbelief. He couldn't believe Elizabeth had done this. He'd heard his mother curse this woman. He always thought her dislike of Elizabeth was crazy, maybe simply possessiveness over Jason, but now he was beginning to share it. What kind of person did something like this. It was monstrous. She'd kept a man from his little boy.

"She didn't care about Danny. She's always hated my relationship with him. She didn't even care about hurting our children,:" Jason said with anger in his voice.

Monica just then realized that she had grandchildren she didn't know. Jake… Jason, had adopted Elizabeth's sons and they'd had a little girl as well. Monica had two more grandsons and a granddaughter. She barely knew any of them. She'd seen Jason with them a couple of times, but they didn't know her. Elizabeth had not just kept her son from her, but her grandchildren as well.

"I can't believe she's been so cruel. What are you gonna do?" Michael asked.

"Aside from ending our marriage, I don't know. Though, I probably don't even have to end it. Technically I'm still married to Sam, so we're not really married," Jason said.

"It has to be terrible finding out that your wife could do this," Monica said.

Before Jason could answer, his cellphone rang. He took it out and answered it. "Hello. HI, Detective. What? Alright, I'll be there."

"What happened?" Michael asked.

"I have to go to the police station. Elizabeth was brought in," Jason said before standing up.

""For what?" Michael asked.

"I'm not sure, but I have to go," Jason said. He didn't really have much interest in helping Elizabeth right now, but he also didn't want his kids to have to deal with their mother being in jail along with everything else.

Monica stood up and hugged him, something she'd wanted to do for six years. "I love you, Jason. I'm glad you're alive."

Jason hugged her briefly and then let go. "I'll come back soon, I promise."

"For your sake and the kids, I hope things go okay at the station. I'm glad you're alive too," Michael said. He'd missed his uncle so much. He'd wished for so long to have him around, especially right after finding out that Sonny had killed his father.

"Thank you," Jason said before rushing out.


	13. Chapter 13

Jason walked into the police station and over to where Dante Falconari and Nathan West were seated. "Detective West, you called me."

"Yeah, thanks for coming," Nathan said.

"Why has Elizabeth been arrested?" Jason asked.

"She hasn't been arrested yet. We're just questioning her," Dante answered as he stood up.

"What about?" Jason asked.

"It's probably a misunderstanding. Let's do this privately," Dante said before leading the way down to an empty interrogation room. Nathan and Jason followed.

"Have a seat," Dante said when the door was closed.

Jason sat on the far side of the table while Dante and Nathan sat on the other side.

"Hayden Barnes contacted us this morning," Nathan said.

Jason sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Hayden really did want to cause an extensive amount of damage. Honestly he was so angry with Elizabeth that he might not care if his family wouldn't be brought down too.

"You're not surprised. You've spoken to Hayden," Dante said.

Jason nodded. "She came to see me in the park while I was with my kids. And it's not a misunderstanding. What she told you about me was the truth."

You're Jason Morgan?" Nathan asked.

Jason nodded.

"How do you know that for sure? Do you remember?" Dante asked.

Jason shook his hand. "No. I had doubts when Hayden told me. I didn't trust her, but there were reasons for me to consider that what she was saying might be true. I had flashes and unexplainable connections to people. I had to find out for sure, so I went to see Patrick Drake and he checked my, that is Jason's, scans, against the ones taken after I was hit by that car. They were almost identical."

Dante was shocked. He hadn't really believed Hayden Barnes. He investigated, as it was his job to, but he assumed it would come back as a lie.

"I'm still not sure why Elizabeth's been brought in," Jason said. What Elizabeth had done was horrible, but it was still legal. She was under no legal obligation to inform him of who he was.

"Hayden Barnes has accused your wife and Nikolas Cassadine of putting a hit out on her to keep her quiet. We brought them both in for questioning. We called you, both because we figured you'd want to be with your wife and because the situation involved you," Nathan explained.

"Do you have any evidence to support Hayden's accusation?" Jason asked.

"Well, the motive just got confirmed, at least for Nikolas. Is it true that Elizabeth knew?" Dante asked.

Jason nodded. "That's not enough for an arrest though."

"No, it's not. We're running ballistics on the gun Shawn used to shoot at you and the bullet that shot Hayden. If they're not a match, the investigation officially opens up and Nikolas and Elizabeth become suspects," Dante said.

"You were there. Do you remember seeing anything that could lead to another shooter?" Nathan asked.

"No, the only shooter I saw was Shawn Butler. I assumed that Sonny Corinthos hired him to take me out," Jason said. That fact was actually still true and it was beyond ironic. Sonny was his friend apparently. He'd heard the way the man praised Jason Morgan. How would he react when he found out he almost caused his death?

"What do you think about Hayden's theory?" Dante asked.

Jason sighed. "Nikolas is a manipulative, underhanded bastard. I wouldn't put anything past him."

"And your wife?" Nathan asked.

Jason laughed humorlessly. "My wife. The fact that she calls herself that should speak volumes. Our marriage is illegal and she knew it. She knew for years that I was married with a child and she kept it to herself. I never would've thought she could do that. As much as I would love to say that she wouldn't try to kill someone, I can't trust anything about her. I don't know."

Dante just stared at him for a minute. It was hard to believe that this was Jason Morgan. He's never known Jason to talk so much, especially to cops, and he never got emotional. Though brain damage and no memory could change a person's personality.

"Do you wanna see your wife?" Nathan asked.

Jason sighed and rubbed his eyes. He didn't wanna see Elizabeth. The rage he felt for her was still very intense and he wanted nothing to do with her. But if Elizabeth went down for Hayden's shooting, his kids would be devastated. He had to think about them, since Elizabeth clearly hadn't been for years. He had to figure out what was going on and see if he couldn't minimize any damage that would be done. "Yeah."

"Alright, come with me," Nathan said before standing up.

Jason got up and followed him out of the interrogation room. He was immediately led into another one where Elizabeth was seated.

"Jake," Elizabeth said before getting up and going to her husband, throwing her arms around him.

Jason pulled her off immediately. "Don't touch me, and stop calling me Jake."

"Jake, I know you're mad, but I need your help. Hayden told the police that I was involved with her shooting," Elizabeth said.

"I know. They called to tell me. They wanted to know if it was true that I was Jason. I guess that was the first step in deciding if the rest is true," Jason said.

"What did you say?" Elizabeth wondered.

"I told them that it was true. I guess you chose not to. Are you even capable of that?" Jason asked bitterly.

"Jake…"

"I asked you to stop calling me Jake. Jake Doe isn't real. My name is Jason Morgan. I'm done living your lies," Jason said coldly.

"I didn't make you Jake. You chose that name," Elizabeth said.

"Yeah, but you made no move to correct it once you learned the truth. You hurt nearly everyone in my life and yours to hang onto me. How about Hayden?"

"How can you think I would kill someone?" She asked.

"Maybe the three years of lies. Answer me. Did you have anything to do with Hayden's shooting?" Jason asked.

"No," Elizabeth told him.

"Did you know that Nikolas put a hit out on her? Before you try to claim he didn't, the police are checking the bullet against the gun Shawn used. If it doesn't match, you and Nikolas become prime suspects," Jason explained.

Elizabeth considered lying and saying she never had any idea, but if Jason was right, she would need his help to get out of this. "Yes. I found out months after the shooting."

Jason closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "You condoned a young woman's murder."

"No, I didn't. I said it was wrong," Elizabeth told him.

"But you didn't report him. You let him make you an accessory!" Jason yelled. He just could not believe this. He thought Elizabeth couldn't sink lower, but he kept being proven wrong. "Do you know what this will do to our kids? Did you ever even consider them?!"

"Y... You have to help me, Jake... Jason. Talk to Sonny. He can get me out of this," Elizabeth said.

Jason looked at her dumbfounded. He almost felt like her words didn't compute right with his brain and he misunderstood. "What? You want me to ask Sonny to help get you out of this? Should I start with the fact that Sonny barely tolerates me?"

"That'll change when he learns the truth," Elizabeth said.

Jason shook his head in disbelief. "You want me to use mob connections to get you out of us. Let me explain what it would take for me to do that. First, I'd have to tell him the truth. That's probably the least invasive thing I'd have to do since he'll find out anyway. I'll have to tell him that you've known for three years and kept quiet so you could have what you wanted despite the pain it caused everyone else, including him. Sonny Corinthos is a pretty selfish person, so I'm sure you can imagine how he'd respond to that. Do you really think any part of him would be inclined to help you?"

"He'd do it for you. He owes you. You've done everything for him," Elizabeth said.

"I'm not done. There's one more important aspect to what you're asking me to do. It's the most important one actually. By using mob connections to help you, I might as well pick up a gun and announce my intentions to start killing people again. I would be right back in the mob. We can forget the fact that no part of me wants that life for the moment. Let's talk about what it would do to my children. How it would put them in danger or teach them that breaking the law is okay. No, sorry, I am not doing that. I put my kids first. I'm apparently the only one capable of that for our children," Jason said.

"That's not true," Elizabeth protested.

"Prove it. You wanna get out of this? You wanna make sure our kids don't have to deal with their mother going to prison? Tell the police what you know. Nikolas is what they want. You can make a deal," Jason said.

"I can't turn Nikolas in," Elizabeth said as though the idea was crazy.

Jason felt his rage take a new level. he didn't understand how he could love this woman. He didn't understand why he never saw her for who she really was. She took selfishness to a new level. "So you choose Nikolas. Fine. I'm done. You're on your own with what happens now. I'm done with you and so are my children. They don't need a mother who won't put them first."

"Jake, no, you can't do that!" Elizabeth exclaimed when her husband started to leave.

Jason ignored her and stormed out.


	14. Chapter 14

Sam made her way through the police station. Molly had come over and mentioned that their mother had to help Nikolas out of legal jam. Given the last twenty-four hours, she had a hunch that this was somehow connected to what was going on with Jason.

Sam approached Dante and Nathan by Dante's desk.

Both detectives noticed her approach them. "Sam, what are doing here?" Dante asked.

"I heard Nikolas was arrested. I wanna see him," Sam said. She had some things to say to her so called cousin. He had stolen her husband from her and robbed Danny of the chance to know his father as his father. She was going to make him answer for that.

"He's with his lawyer right now," Nathan said.

"Yeah, I know, my mother. She won't be his lawyer when she finds out exactly what he's done. By the way, do you know what he's done?" Sam asked.

"Yes. Jason's here. He explained everything. Before we had another statement from Hayden Barnes, but we were reluctant to believe it until he Jason confirmed it," Dante said.

"What has NIkolas been brought in for anyway?" Sam asked. In her opinion it should be, but what Nikolas and Elizabeth did to Jason and their family wasn't illegal.

"Hayden has accused him and Elizabeth of trying to kill her," Dante said.

Sam nodded. It made sense. Hayden had made it pretty clear that she was out for blood. She had waited so long to tell Jason because she wanted to completely blow apart Elizabeth's life. It made sense that she wasn't done. She wanted to completely destroy them. If the people she loved weren't being brought down with Elizabeth and Nikolas, Sam would probably applaud her efforts. "I want to see Nikolas."

Just then, Jason stormed through looking extremely angry. That turned to surprise when he saw Sam. "Hey. What are you doing here?"

"I heard Nikolas was brought in. I left the kids with my sister, Molly. I take it you were here for Elizabeth?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, for the last time," Jason said before turning to the two detectives. "Do whatever the hell you want with her. I am done."

"What happened?" Sam asked.

"Later," Jason whispered. He wouldn't help Elizabeth, but he wouldn't help the police put her away either. He would never be able to look at his kids in the eyes if he helped but their mother in prison. They were going to be hurt enough because of Elizabeth's actions. He would not help hurt them more.

"Uh, you both should know that the ballistics came back. Shawn's gun was not used in Hayden's shooting," Dante said. He wasn't supposed to tell anyone about an ongoing investigation, but he felt Jason and Sam deserved to know the truth. Both of them could've been killed that night.

"What's that mean for Shawn Butler?" Jason asked curiously.

"Well, he's been exonerated for Hayden's shooting, but he still took a shot at you. He planned to kill you.. He's still gonna do a lot more time for that," Nathan said.

Jason nodded. He didn't have a problem with that. Shawn was no victim in his opinion. He shot at him and could've hit Sam.

"And Nikolas and Elizabeth?" Sam asked.

Before either detective could answer, Alexis came through with Nikolas right behind her. "Detectives, we're leaving. The accusations against my client are baseless."

"Mom, did he tell you everything he's been accused of?" Sam asked while glaring at Nikolas.

Alexis sighed. "Yes. Sam, I know how much you want Jason back, but this isn't Jason. Jason's gone. You can't cling to Hayden Barnes' word. She has lied about Jake in the past."

"No one's clinging to Hayden's word. I also have Patrick Drake who compared my brain scans from after I was hit by that car to the ones that were taken after my last surgery," Jason said.

"The ones that were no doubt Jason's," Sam said.

"Patrick says they're almost identical. There's no doubt in his mind that I'm Jason. And if you need more proof, my 'wife' confirmed it. She's known for years," Jason said with anger and disgust in his voice. He became more angry every time he even thought about what Elizabeth and Nikolas did.

A shocked Alexis looked at her daughter and… Jason before turning to her nephew. "Nikolas?"

Nikolas cringed. He didn't know about Patrick Drake. He hadn't gotten the chance to speak with Elizabeth yet. He'd hoped to just pin Hayden as a liar. It shouldn't have been hard given everything she'd done.

"Nikolas, did you do this? Did you lie about Jason's identity? Did you let my daughter and grandson grieve?" Alexis asked in disbelief. She couldn't believe her nephew could do this. Yes, Nikolas had done a couple of questionable things, but she still considered him a good person who cared about his family. That clearly wasn't true if he had done this.

"He did," Sam said before stepping towards Nikolas. "You stole Jason's life from him! You took my son's father away!"

"I didn't find out until after you'd moved on. You were better off without him. You and Danny had Patrick. He was a much better man," Nikolas said.

"You smug son of a bitch!" Sam yelled before lunging at him.

Jason immediately pulled Sam back. "No, don't! You can't go after him here."

Dante, meanwhile had gotten in between them. "He's right. I don't want to arrest you for assault. Don't let him do that to you."

Sam stopped, but she continued to give NIkolas the biggest death glare she could. "You never gave a damn about me or Danny! Don't think for a second that I don't know why you did this! This was about stealing the Quartermaine's company and after that Elizabeth. You've always put her first above everyone."

"She deserved to be happy," Nikolas said.

"Elizabeth deserved to be happy? What about Sam?" Alexis asked.

"She was happy. She and Danny had Patrick at the time. I figured it would work out and they'd be a family," Nikolas asked.

Alexis stared at Nikolas in bewilderment. It was almost like she expected his face to change and become someone else. This was not the nephew she remembered. What the hell had happened to make him like this? "You need to find a new lawyer. I will not be helping you with this or anything else."

"For Jason?" Nikolas asked in disbelief.

"For my daughter and my grandson! You kept their husband and father away from them! Do you really expect me to look past that?" Alexis asked.

"They were better off! He's just gonna go back to the mob and put them in danger again," Nikolas said.

"Who the hell are you to decide what's best for anyone? I think you're a piece a crap who shouldn't be around children either. Should I go ahead and take your son away?" Jason asked.

"I'm not a hitman," Nikolas threw out.

"No, you're the one that hires the hitmen. You hired someone to kill Hayden just to keep Jason away from us! What is wrong with you?!" Sam yelled.

"Sam, let's just go. He doesn't give a damn about anything we say. Let's go," Jason said.

Sam nodded and starting walking away. Alexis followed her.

Jason glared at Nikolas. "Stay away from my family. Sam and my kids are off limits to you and Elizabeth," he said before walking away.


	15. Chapter 15

Jason was sitting on the couch of his hotel suite the next morning. After getting back to Sam's last night, he'd gotten his kids together and gone to the Metro Court. Luckily, Carly had already gone home for the night, so he didn't have to face her just yet. That would happen soon though.

Jason soon heard footsteps, followed by his oldest son's voice. "Dad?"

Jason turned to him. "Hey, pal. How come you're up so early. You've still got about an hour before you have to be up for school."

"I couldn't sleep any longer," Cam said before joining his father on the couch. "Why did we come here last night? I figured you'd bring Aiden and Allie home and at least make me stay there too until you got your own place."

Jason knew he had to tell Cameron the truth. Cam needed to hear everything, not the sugarcoated version that he'd give Aiden. "That was the plan, but things with your mom have gotten bad. The three of you aren't going back there. I'm going to do everything I can to make sure you all live with me."

"What did Mom do now?" Cam asked. This was not the way his dad was yesterday. Yes, he was angry and had made it clear that he was leaving Cam's mom, but he still seemed to respect her position as his mother. Now he wanted to take them away from her completely. She had to have done something else.

Jason explained the situation as simply and as gently as he could to his son. He hated telling the teen these things and cursed Elizabeth the whole time, but he had to tell him. Eventually, it would be public, so it was better for it to come out now.

"Mom helped try to kill somebody?" Cam asked in horror. He couldn't believe his mother would do something so horrible. How could she actually try to kill someone? Then again, how could she lie to someone about who they were? His mother wasn't who he thought she was.

"No, not exactly. She says she didn't find out about it until after it happened. But she didn't say anything and that's a crime," Jason told him.

"Is she gonna go to jail?" Cam asked worried. He was so angry with his mother, but he didn't want her to go to prison.

"I don't know. The police are looking into it. If they can prove Nikolas shot Hayden and your mom knew, yes, she could go to jail," Jason said.

Cam put his head in his hands in misery. "This sucks."

Jason rubbed his son's shoulders comfortingly. "It sure as hell does."

"Our family is gonna be ripped apart and Mom might actually go to jail. Did she even think about us before she did all this stuff?" Cam asked.

"I'd say she thought about you very little. That's why I think you and your brother and sister are better off with me. I won't let you be with a parent that won't put you first," Jason said.

"I think you're the only person who's ever put me first, Dad. Mom always puts other people first and Lucky clearly never gave a crap. When are you gonna tell Aiden?" Cam asked.

"I'll tell him some version of it tonight. He won't get the same amount that you did. He's too young to understand the whole thing," Jason said.

Suddenly, a tiny voice called out over the baby monitor. "Dada!"

"I better get your sister. You should get ready for school. I know you may not want to go, but I think it's best for day to day things to get as back to normal as possible," Jason said.

Cam nodded. "I think I'd rather go anyway. I wanna see my friends and think about something normal.

"Good," Jason said before getting up to go get his daughter.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Sam was in the living room with Danny helping him get ready for school. Sam was making sure Danny had his homework packed while her son put his shoes on. "Hurry up, sweetie. We wanna get there on time."

"Yes, Mommy," Danny said as he finished putting his shoes on.

Sam packed her son's lunch and then brought his backpack to him just as he stood up. "Okay, put this on."

Danny put his backpack and hung it on his back. "Mommy, Am I gonna see Daddy today?"

"Uh, I don't know about today. Daddy needs time alone with Cam and Aiden," Sam said.

"Why?" Danny asked.

"Because he has to tell them some things that will hurt them," Sam said as she bent down to her son's level.

"Daddy wouldn't hurt Cam and Aiden," Danny protested.

"No, that's not what I meant. He's not gonna hurt them, but he has things to tell them that will upset them," Sam explained.

"What does he have to tell them?" Danny asked.

Sam was saved from answering by a knock at the door. She immediately went to answer it. When she opened it, she was unhappy to find Elizabeth there. "What do you want?"

"I'm here to see my husband and children," Elizabeth said coldly.

Sam turned to her son. "Sweetie, go play upstairs for a few minutes. I'll call you when we're ready to leave for school. But leave your shoes on."

"Okay," Danny said before running up the stairs.

Once her son was gone, Sam turned and glared at the woman who'd stolen her husband and her son's father. "You have a lot of nerve showing your face at my apartment."

"I have a right to see my husband and children," Elizabeth said.

Sam laughed humorlessly. "My husband, Elizabeth. In case you're forgetting, Bigamy isn't legal. Anyway, he's not here. I need to get my son to school, so get the hell out of here."

"Jason's gonna come back to me, Sam," Elizabeth said.

Sam laughed. "Are you really that delusional? Jason can't stand you. You destroyed everything he felt about you when he found out you lied about his whole life and kept his child from him."

"He'll come around," Elizabeth assured her with a smug look.

No, he won't. You know, always knew this would happen one day. Oh, I never imagined this particular situation. Even I didn't think you were this evil, but I knew you'd do something to make Jason see the truth about you. I both wanted and feared that day. I've always wanted Jason to see the truth about you. I wanted him to stop living the fantasy that you were a saint that could do no wrong. But I also knew that day would break him. For Jason to see you for who you are, you would've had to do something so terrible and disgusting that it wrecked him. And now that's where we are. You destroyed Jason and brought four children down with him. Was it worth it? Was finally getting your hooks into Jason worth decimating everyone you claim to love?"

"Go to hell, Sam. Jason will forgive me and we'll be a family again," Elizabeth said.

"You go with that fantasy. But the rest of us live in reality. In reality, I have to get my son to school," Sam said before slamming the door in her face.


	16. Chapter 16

Jason walked into the Metro Court with Allie rested on his hip. He'd just taken his boys to school and was now headed back to his room to hopefully put Allie down for a morning nap and get some more sleep himself. He hadn't gotten a lot of sleep lately.

"Jake!" A voice called out.

Jason groaned. He knew that voice well. It was Carly's. Jason of course knew that he'd have to speak with Carly soon, but he hoped to put it off a little longer. He was going through hell right now and knew it would just get worse with Carly. He loved her, but he wasn't sure he could deal with her reaction to what was going on just yet.

Not having much choice, Jason sighed and walked over to the check-in counter where Carly and her business partner currently were. "Hi, Carly. Listen, I can't talk right now. I need to get to my room."

"Yeah, I just saw your name on our guest list. Then Olivia just showed me this," Carly said in bewilderment before holding up a newspaper.

Jason was seeing red. The front page had pictures of him, Sam, and Elizabeth and the headline made it clear that the story revealed his identity. Hayden had done it. She'd gone even further and contacted the press. She was clearly making it her mission to complete tear his life apart.

"Uh, how about I take your little girl into the kitchen for a snack?" Olivia asked. She could see that this man was clearly pissed and she doubted that he wanted his child to see that.

Jason normally wouldn't allow someone he didn't know that well to take his daughter, but Carly trusted Olivia and he was about ready to lose it. Allie shouldn't be around him at this moment. "Yes, that would be great. Thanks."

Olivia took the little girl into her arms and walked away.

"You didn't know about this," Carly said. It wasn't a question. She saw the anger displayed almost immediately. He was ready to hurt someone. However, he didn't see very shocked. Maybe he was surprised by the article itself, but not so much by what was in it.

"No, I didn't know about this damn thing!" Jason growled as he snatched the paper out of his friend's hands. "My son is gonna see this." It wasn't like Cam didn't already know everything that was in the article, but seeing it written down and knowing everyone he knows can see it was different. And hell, even Aiden and Danny might get wind of this. Neither boy read the newspaper, but a lot of the older kids in their school might and say something to them.

"Jake, I have to know if anything in that article is true," Carly said in a shaky voice. She was trying not to hope. She was trying to stick with the belief that whoever wrote that article was lying because if she believed Jake was Jason even for a minute and she turning out to be wrong, it would be even worse than when she was originally told Jason was dead.

"I'm gonna guess that it's all true," Jason said.

"Jason?" Carly asked as he hands shook.

Jason nodded.

Carly scrambled, nearly tripping over herself as she came around to the other side of the counter and launched herself into her best friend's arms. "Oh, God, I've missed you. I can't believe I've been missing you all these years and half of those years you've been here."

Jason held her in his arms. "I'm sorry. This shouldn't have happened."

"How did this happen?" Carly asked as she pulled away and wiped her eyes. She knew somewhat of how it happened. Patrick had told her that Robin had a chance to save Jason's life, but he also told her she failed. Obviously that wasn't true, so what had happened.

"I don't know. I still don't have any memories except for the few flashes I had years ago which I pretty much chalked up to my mind playing tricks on me," Jason said.

"Well, how do you know that you're Jason?" Carly asked.

"Hayden told me and medical scans confirmed it. Elizabeth confirmed it again later."

"So she did know? That bitch knew the whole time?" Carly asked angrily.

"Long enough. Since just after you outed Hayden. Nikolas did to. He probably told her. Then the two of them conspired to keep it a secret. Nikolas put the hit out on Hayden to keep her quiet," Jason said through gritted teeth. He hated both of them so much for what they did to him and everyone he loved.

"I will kill both of them!" Carly exclaimed.

Jason laughed humorlessly. "If you want a piece of them, you'll have to wait your turn. Sam and I have first dibs."

"So Sam knows?" Carly asked.

Jason nodded. "I told her the night I found out for sure."

"What about Danny?" Carly asked.

"Danny knows I'm his father. Obviously he's not gonna understand all of it, neither is Aiden. I have to find some way of explained what it means for us,"Jason said.

"Do you know what it means for you?" Carly asked.

"Somewhat? My marriage is over. Well, actually, it never existed. You can't legally marry someone when you're still married to someone else. My marriage to Elizabeth ceased to exist the moment it came out that I was Jason Morgan. My kids are gonna be forced out of my home because I can't trust their mother with them," Jason said.

"You're going for custody. Good. She doesn't deserve them," Carly said coldly.

"I didn't want it to be like this. I wanted to find someway to co-parent, but I can't. Hayden's attempted murder is too much. I won't let her hurt them anymore," Jason said firmly.

"i will support you, Jason. What do you need me to do?" Carly asked. She was ready to do anything Jason needed her to do. He had done so much for her. She wanted to return the favor now.

Jason didn't answer. He just rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"Jason, when's the last time you slept well?" Carly asked.

"Days. I haven't slept more than a few hours since Hayden told me the truth," he said.

"You need to go get some rest. Your kids need you well rested," Carly said.

"I can't. I mean, if I can get Allie to take a nap, I might get an hour, but that's it. Plus, I have an appointment with Sam's mom this afternoon to try to figure out legal stuff. Then I have to pick my boys up from school and then figure out a way to explain to Aiden what is happening. I'd also like to be able to see Danny tonight, but I'm not sure I'll get to," Jason said. He felt so overwhelmed right now. He didn't know how to get himself and his kids through this.

"Okay, this is what you do. You go upstairs and sleep until your appointment with Alexis. When is it?" Carly asked.

"Two," Jason said.

"I'll set up a wake-up call for you. I will take care of Allie and then pick up Cameron and Aiden. I'll take them to dinner so that you can see Danny at that time. I'll bring them home around seven. You can figure out what to say to Aiden then," Carly said.

"No, that's way too much for me to ask," Jason said.

"No, it's not. I've asked much more of you in the past. I will take care of your kids for the day. You need to take care of yourself so you're better able to take care of them. They need you at your best. You are the only parent three of your kids can count on right now," Carly said.

Jason nodded. He was now glad he ran into Carly. He was afraid things would get worse when he did, but she had actually made things better. "Okay. Thank you."

Carly pulled him into her arms once more. "I'm so glad you're back. Everything will be okay. Go," she said after pulling away.

Jason headed to the elevator to go up to his room.


	17. Chapter 17

"Come on in, Jason," Alexis Davis said when her son-in-law arrived at her office.

"Thanks," Jason said as he stepped inside. He was in much better shape now than a few hours ago. He was glad he'd taken help from Carly. He needed those few hours to sleep. Now he was more ready to face what he needed to today.. "Thanks for agreeing to help me."

"Of course. Sit down," Alexis urged before going behind her desk to sit down as well.

Jason sat down in front of her. "I don't even know how to start with this. I don't think there's a guide on how to deal with being married to two people at the same time and having no knowledge of it."

"No, that's not something that generally happens. I want to assure you that you won't face charges. You were innocent in this. Now, your marriage to Elizabeth isn't valid. You won't have to divorce her or ask for an annullment. Any judge will declare the marriage invalid. However, you will still have to deal with her. You may not have been legally married, but you've lived together for over three years and have three children. That you won't simply be able to make that go away," Alexis said.

"I would never want my children to go away. I love them," Jason said.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way. I just meant things will still be difficult for you," she said.

"I know. Look, the reason I'm really here is that I can't trust Elizabeth. I need my kids to live with me," Jason said.

Alexis sighed. "Jason, I don't know if I can represent you if that's your intention. I completely understand your desire for custody of your children. What Elizabeth has done to you and your kids is terrible. I'd like to take a few shots at her for what she's done to Sam and Danny. But, Jason, I saw how your world can hurt children. I witnessed it with Michael and occasionally with my own daughter. I can't be involved with that happening to more children.

"Neither can I. Look, I don't want that life for my kids or myself. I'm not going back to Sonny," Jason assured her. Honestly, he didn't even really like Sonny all that much. He didn't hate him, but after watching some of the things he did over the last few years, he couldn't really like him. He was a selfish person who put his needs ahead of his own kids. That wasn't something Jason could ever understand.

"With all due respect, you can say that now because you don't remember being in the mob. You could change your mind if you remember," Alexis said.

"It's been three years. I don't think I'm going to remember. But even if I did, I seriously doubt I could pick up like none of this ever happened. I can't forget missing six years of my son's life or getting a chip stuck in my head that caused me to hurt people. I can't forget the life I built for myself after losing my memory. I just don't believe I could ever go back to being that person," Jason said.

Alexis still wasn't sure. She knew Jason was confident in what he was saying, but she worried about what would happen if he remembered. However, Jason seemed to be the only parent putting his kids first. She wasn't sure their wellbeing could be met with Elizabeth. "Alright, I'll help you. You're not gonna get complete custody though. No judge is going to take them from her completely. And Cameron and Aiden will be asked who they want to live with. Their voices will carry a lot of wait, especially Cameron's. A judge will consider him old enough to make this decision himself."

"Cam has already told me he wants to live with me. He asked me before I even made the decision to fight," Jason told her.

"That will definitely be helpful. Uh, you have a decent case given what Elizabeth has done, but she could come at you with things too. You spent most of your life in the mob. She will more than likely use that against you," Alexis warned.

"She got with me knowing about that. She let me adopt the boys knowing exactly what my past is. I didn't know about it, but she did. It didn't bother her in the slightest then, so how can she say it does now," Jason asked.

"I will definitely bring that up in court should she try to use it, but I just want you to be prepared for what's going to happen," Alexis said.

"I work as head of security for a well respected corporation. There is nothing illegal about my job," he said.

"Are you sure you can't work something out?" Alexis asked.

"No. I can't share custody with a woman I can't trust with my children. She won't put my kids first. That became blatantly clear last night. This morning, my son, Cameron, told me he didn't think anyone besides me ever put him first," Jason said.

Alexis sighed. That just made her sad. Cameron was barely a teenage. He should not feel unloved or even just second when it came to his family.

"Alright, I'll file sole custody paperwork as soon as you're legally declared alive," Alexis said before preparing to go through the process with him.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Sam opened her front door to find Jason there. "Hey. I didn't know you were coming tonight."

Danny, who was playing in the living room, turned to see who it was. He immediately got up and started running to Jason. "Daddy!"

Jason bent down and hugged the boy tightly. "Hey, buddy."

"Mommy said you might not come today," Danny said once he pulled away.

"I wasn't sure I'd get to," Jason said, taking his son's hand and walking inside with him.

"Where are Cam, Aiden, and Allie?" Danny asked.

"With Aunt Carly. She watched them so I could do some things," Jason said.

"Honey, go put your toys away and then get ready for dinner. Our food should be here soon," Sam said. She'd ordered out, having had a hell of a day and being in no mood for cooking.

"Can Daddy eat with us?" Danny asked.

"We'll see. Go put your stuff away," Sam said.

Danny nodded and gathered up his stuff before going upstairs.

"You are welcome to stay for dinner, Jason. We ordered pizza and there will be plenty," Sam said.

"Thanks, I think I will. Carly's taking the other kids out for dinner," Jason said.

"So Carly knows?" Sam asked.

"Everyone probably does by now," Jason said.

"Right, the paper. I can say I've had better moments than finding my face in the morning paper after taking Danny to school. I knew my day was shot when your wannabe wife showed up," Sam said.

"Elizabeth showed up here?" Jason asked angrily. How dare she show up at Sam's doorstep after what she did to her and Danny. She had no business showing her face to the place they were all supposed to be a family.

"Yeah, she demanded to see you and the kids. She claims you will just get over what happened and go back to her," Sam said in disgust.

"I'm sorry. I'll make sure it doesn't happen again," Jason promised.

"Jason, it's not your job to control Elizabeth. Don't even try. That just gives her more control over your life," Sam said.

"You shouldn't have to deal with her," he said.

Sam shrugged. "I've dealt with her for years. I'm not worried about it," Sam said before taking a seat on the couch.

Jason sat next to her. "I can't believe she really thinks I'll just forget about this. That's crazy. I won't ever forgive her for what she's done to my kids or to you. We're done."

Sam nodded. "Uh, no pressure intended, but soon, you and I have to talk about what to do about our marriage."

"I know. Can you give me a couple of days. I'm sorry, I know it isn't fair for me to put you off. I don't mean to be selfish, but…"

"Jason, you have every right to be selfish right now. Listen, there are so many victims in this, and i know how you like to consider everyone else first, but I think you should consider yourself and the kids first," Sam said.

"That includes Danny," Jason told her.

"Of course, but Danny's okay right now. He has both his parents back and brothers and sisters. He's happy. Your kids with Elizabeth are the ones that are gonna be hurt the most. Take what times you need to take care of them and then we'll figure out where we stand," SAm suggested.

Jason nodded. "Okay."

Just then, there was a knock at the door.

"That's the pizza," Sam said

"Let me get it," Jason said before going to answer the door.


	18. Chapter 18

Elizabeth walked into the Metro court. It was the only place she could think of that Jason would go to with their children. She'd considered Sonny and Carly's, but Jason wasn't exactly on friendly terms with Sonny and he'd made it clear he didn't want anything to do with the mob.

Speaking of Sonny, Elizabeth spotted him by the receptionist area. She was going to duck away, not wanting to deal with Sonny if he knew everything, which was pretty likely since it was in the morning paper. However, she couldn't avoid it, as he spotted her too and made his way towards her.

Elizabeth sighed and met him halfway. "Hi, Sonny."

"Hey. I went to your place this morning," Sonny said. He'd rushed over as soon as he'd seen the paper to find out what the hell was going on. He doubted anything in that paper was true, but he wanted to confirm it.

"I had to work," Elizabeth said. It had been a hell of shift too. She'd found eyes on her all day, judging her over that article. She was just grateful Monica was off. She didn't wanna think about how that would go.

"I was actually there to talk to Jake. I read the paper. Listen, I don't think it's true. Even if Jake were proven to be Jason, you'd never lie about it if you knew," Sonny said.

"Are you here for Carly?" Elizabeth asked, planning to avoid the conversation as much as possible.

"Yeah, I figured she has to know by now. I've been calling her all day, but she's not picking up. Do you know how this thing started? How'd that article get printed?" Sonny asked.

Just then, Jason walked over. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I've been looking for you," Elizabeth said.

"Yeah, I heard you went to see Sam. What the hell is wrong with you?" Jason asked angrily.

"I just wanted to talk to you. And before you defend 'poor' Sam, you should know how hateful she was to me," Elizabeth said.

"I don't care what Sam said to you. I don't care if she screamed and called you every derogatory name in the dictionary. You deserve that and more from her, especially after having the nerve to go to her home. How dare you? Did you not cause Sam and Danny enough pain?" Jason asked angrily. He couldn't believe she was actually looking for sympathy from him, especially regarding Sam, after everything she'd doesn't.

Sonny had watched the entire exchange and finally decided to interject. Everything Jake had said so far indicated that he believed the article in the paper. "Hold on. Are you saying you belief today's article, Jake."

Jason had barely registered Sonny's presence until now. He'd seen red when he saw Elizabeth, due to just hearing about his visit to Sam. Now, he was very aware of the other man's presence. He wasn't looking forward to this. the confrontation with Sonny Corinthos was the one he looked forward to the least. Neither man had been very fond of each other, and for Jason, that hadn't changed. Sonny wouldn't be happy the result of this conversation.

"Sonny, please go. This is between me and Jake," Elizabeth said.

"Between you and Jake or you and Jason?" Sonny asked. He was no longer sure about that article now. Jake, or Jason, seemed to think it was true by how angry he was at Elizabeth and for Sam. "I'm not leaving until someone tells me what's going on. Are you Jason?"

"Yes," Jason answered after a second.

Sonny looked at Elizabeth with a cold glare. "So the paper was right. You knew he was Jason."

"Sonny, it's…"

"Yeah, she knew," Jason interrupted. He wasn't going to listen to more excuses, even if they weren't directed to him.

"Why?" Sonny asked in a low voice.

"Because he belongs with me. You know he does, Sonny. I was with him long before Sam was. You saw how much we loved each other," Elizabeth said.

Sonny looked at her like she'd completely lost her mind. "You kept him from everyone who loved him so you could be with someone who doesn't love you? Forget everyone else for a second. Do you know how pathetic that sounds?"

"No, he does love me. He chose to be with me. We're married," Elizabeth said.

"No, we're not. I am married to Sam, not you," Jason said.

"Only in name. You wanted to be with me, not Sam. We have a family together," Elizabeth said.

"Because you lied to him. Everything about your relationship with Jason was a lie. You knew he had family and friends grieving. And obviously you knew he would've done something different if he knew the truth. You wouldn't have hid it if you didn't. You made his choices for him, something you knew very well he hated above everything else. You kept him from his kid," Sonny said with anger and disbelief in his voice. He could hardly believe this. He'd always thought Elizabeth was a good person. He thought she'd always do what was right even at her own expense. Now he saw what Carly always had. This woman had selfishly kept a man from his own life and his family. She'd denied him his name just so she could hang onto someone who didn't really love her.

"He had Danny in his life," Elizabeth said.

"Something you hated. And having my own child call me 'Uncle' would never be enough. Now, I'm done with this," Jason said before he started to walk away.

"No, don't go," Elizabeth said.

"Jason, wait!" Sonny said as he grabbed his arm. "Listen, we need to talk. You're my best friend."

"No, I'm not. You can barely stand me, and I'm not all that fond of you. You put a hit out on me," Jason said.

"I know. I'm sorry, but things have changed," Sonny said.

"Not for me they haven't, not on that stand. Look, I don't wanna do this now. I have to go see my kids," Jason said.

"Jason, please, the kids need to come home. So do you. They deserve their family," Elizabeth said.

"Yeah, but you destroyed it. And you will not use them to force me to go back to you. You and I are done, and I will not let my kids be hurt by you again," Jason said firmly.

"You can't take them from me," Elizabeth protested.

"I can't keep you from seeing them, my lawyer made that clear to me, but I can make sure contact is minimal and controlled," Jason said.

"You can't be serious. I would never hurt our kids," Elizabeth said in disbelief.

"You already have," he said before walking away.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Jason walked into his room to find the boys sitting on the couch with Carly playing video games. Allie was in her playpen a couple of feet away.

"No offense, Aunt Carly, but you really such at this," Cam said.

Carly sighed. "Yeah, I've been told.

"Hey, guys," Jason said.

"Hi, Daddy," Aiden said.

"Hey, Dad," Cam said before pausing the game.

"Well, I guess I should go," Carly said before getting up.

"Thanks, Carly," Jason said gratefully.

"I was glad to help. You better let me know if you need anymore help. Now, I better get home. Sonny's been calling all day and he's bound to have questions for me," Carly said. She'd ignored her husband's calls because she knew he's seen the paper and would have questions she couldn't answer while taking care of Jason's kids.

"He's downstairs," Jason said.

Carly raised an eyebrow in surprise. "You talk?"

"A little, but I had to come back up here. Ask him about it," Jason said.

Carly nodded and quickly left the room.

Jason took his jacket off and draped it over a chair. "You guys do your homework."

"Most of it. My teachers gave me yesterday's work too, but she's gonna give me a couple of days to finish it," Cam said.

Jason nodded and turned to Aiden. "Buddy, can you do me a favor and go into your PJs."

"We're staying here again? I wanna go home," Aiden said.

"I know. Go get into your pajamas and then we're gonna have a talk about that," Jason told him.

Aiden got up and ran towards the room he and Cameron were sharing.

Jason turned to his oldest. "How'd things go for you?"

"Could've been better. I saw the paper. My friend, Will, brought it in and showed me. Some of the other kids mentioned it a few times too, but the teachers shut them down when they heard it," Cam said.

"I'm sorry. I didn't see it until later. I would've kept you home if I had known," Jason said before sitting next to him.

"I know. It's not your fault, Dad," Cam said. He blamed his mother for all this, not his father. He didn't ask for any of this.

Aiden came out soon and sat down on the other side of his father.

Jason pulled the boy into his side. "Hey. I know you wanna go home, but we can't."

"Why not? I want Mommy," Aiden said.

"I know. I'm sorry, buddy, but Mommy and I won't be living together anymore," Jason said.

Aiden's eyes started to well up with tears. "Why? I don't want you to get a divorce!"

Jason rubbed the boy's shoulders. "I'm sorry. Mommy and I just can't be together anymore."

"Did we do something bad? Is that why you're breaking up?" Aiden asked.

"No! You haven't done anything!" Jason said firmly.

"It's not us, it's Mom," Cam blurted out. He hadn't meant to, but he was really angry.

"Cameron!" Jason admonished loudly.

"Sorry," he said.

"Mommy did something bad? What did she do?" Aiden asked.

Jason sighed. He'd been trying all day to figure out what to tell Aiden, but the boy was so young. it was going to be hard for him to understand this. "You know how yesterday Aunt Sam and I told you and Danny how I have a different name and that I'm Danny's father too?

Aiden nodded.

"Well, Mommy about that for a very long time and she never told me," Jason said.

"She knew you were Danny's Daddy?"

"Yes," Jason said.

"Why didn't she tell you that?" Aiden said.

"She didn't tell me because she doesn't like Danny being at our house all the time. She doesn't want him to be my son," Jason said. He wouldn't lie. Hell, he wouldn't even be able to for long. The whole town already knew about it. Aiden would get wind to the story eventually. It was better tell him himself instead of letting him hear it from his classmates.

"But Danny's my best friend. I like that he's my brother. Why doesn't Mommy want him to be my brother? Aiden asked.

Jason sighed. "I know how confusing this is, Aiden. Mommy just did something really bad. When you do something bad, you have to pay for it. Mommy and I won't be living together anymore. Mommy's gonna stay where she is and I'm going to get a new place. You me, Cameron, Allie, and sometimes Danny will be living at the new place.

"I want Mommy too," Aiden cried before launching himself into his father's arms

"I'm sorry," Jason said as he held his son tightly, silently cursing Elizabeth for doing this to them.


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: In this story, Michael has not forgiven Sonny for killing AJ.**

Michael was sitting at his desk at ELQ when he heard a knock. "Come in."

The door opened and Jason walked in. "Hey."

"Jason, I didn't expect you to come back so soon. You should take more time before you come back to work," Michael said. Honestly, he wasn't even sure Jason was going to continue to work for him now that he had his true identity. He wasn't sure what he would do, but he knew Sonny at least would be hounding him to go back to the mob. He only hoped Jason wouldn't go for it.

Jason shook his head. "I need life to get back to some degree of normal. I need to make life stable for my kids again."

"What do you mean? How are they doing?" Michael asked.

"Well, they're living in a hotel right now, so things aren't the best," Jason said.

"You're taking them away from Elizabeth," Michael stated.

"Yeah. I hate it. I know it's killing them, but I don't have a choice. I can't trust them with her. She can't put anything ahead of her own selfishness, even our kids. I can't let them be hurt by her again," Jason said.

"You'll do what she won't," Michael said confidently. Jason could always be counted on to put his kids first. He did that with Jake and even with Michael. In fact, he remembered Jason being the only one to put him first many times when he was a child. He loved his mother and used to love Sonny, but they didn't put him first.

"They're suffering and it kills me. Cam is already in agony over what his mother did. He's having to deal with his friends all knowing the kind of person his mother is and I know he's still insecure about whether or not I'm going to change my mind about being in his life. I had to tell Aiden last night that Elizabeth and I were getting a divorce and he cried himself to sleep. And Allie woke up asking for her mother last night. Ironically, the only kid that hasn't been seriously messed up by this is Danny," Jason said. It wasn't to say Danny hadn't suffered. He'd been deprived of a father for six years. It was just that he was too young to understand that someone had actually done something to hurt him. He only understood that he know had a father, so he was happy.

"Can I help you in anyway?" Michael asked.

"No, I don't think so. I just need to figure out how to make things normal again. I need to get back to work and then find a place to live," Jason said.

"You know, there are plenty of people who would help you temporarily. My mom and Sonny would let you stay with them, though I really hope you don't go that route," Michael said. He didn't want his uncle getting back in the mob. If there was anything good that came from his amnesia, it was that he could get out and start over.

"No. I don't want that life for my kids, and to be honest, I don't really like Sonny that much," Jason said.

"Well, you know how I feel about him," Michael said. He once idolized Sonny, but that was long over. Sonny had killed his father and he'd never forgive him for that. He tolerated him and was able to be around him and be civil for his mother and his siblings, but they would never have the relationship they once did.

"Yeah, I know," Jason said.

"I know Grandmother would be happy if you stayed with us too. She'd love to get to know the kids. She's trying not to push, but she'd really like to meet them as their grandmother," Michael said.

"I want that to. I will bring them over. I just need a few days to figure everything else out. And I can't live there. Right now, the kids don't know anyone there but you. I won't force them into a house with a bunch of strangers. Besides, it would just be another temporary situation. I need to get something permanent so they can start to adjust," Jason explained.

Michael nodded. "Okay, I just knew she'd want me to offer. Listen, you don't have to answer this, but I was wondering what you and Sam are gonna do."

Jason sighed. That was a question that hadn't left his mind since his identity came out. "We haven't figured that out yet. We are married, but we're not in love with each other."

"That's not true. Sam has been in love with you for most of her time in Port Charles," Michael said.

Jason shook his head. "No, she loved the guy that got shot and left to drown and bleed to death in the water. He's gone, Michael. I'm not him. I don't remember that guy. I won't make the same choices he did. The person Sam loves is dead. And even though I wish it weren't true, I still love Elizabeth. At least I love what I thought she was."

"You and Sam have been close. You have a child together. Maybe you could make it back," Michael said.

"Maybe. I have considered the possibility. Sam and I are good friends and friends can fall in love. It's possible that it'll happen, but I don't think we can bank on it, and I don't think it would be fair to her or Danny to have us in limbo. Kids want their parents together. It's just a natural desire. I can't let him get his hopes up," Jason said.

"So you wanna end it," Michael deduced.

"I don't know. I don't want to make any decisions or even say anything resembling a decision to you know until I speak to Sam. This is her life. She needs to have a say," Jason said firmly. He would not make this decision alone. This was something he and Sam needed to figure out together.

"I understand. I do wanna say though that I hope you and Sam make it. She's always been the best fit for you, and I believe that even as you are now," Michael said.

"Thanks. So listen, my name hasn't been legally changed back yet, but it will be soon. I'm not sure how that affects things here, but I figured you needed to know." Jason said.

"I'll let the company lawyers figure that out. I take it though you're planning to stay on," he said.

"Definitely. Until you kick me out, I'm yours," Jason said with a smile.

"Okay. Maybe you should get back to it then."

Jason chuckled and stood up. "Listen, let Monica know I will bring the kids by to see her, maybe this weekend. I'll even ask Sam to let me take Danny too."

"I will," Michael promised.

Jason nodded and headed out of the room.


	20. Chapter 20

Sam opened her front door to find her mother there. "Hey, Mom, come on in. Thanks for agreeing to take Danny."

"LIke you had to twist my arm. You know your father and I love taking him," Alexis said as she walked inside.

"Yeah, I know."

"How is he doing with everything?" Alexis asked.

"He's fine. He doesn't really understand that something was stolen from him. He's just really happy to have a dad, and even more happy about who it is. You know how much he's always loved 'Uncle Jake'," Sam said.

"Oh, yeah. He would get very excited whenever the man showed up or was mentioned. So when will Jason be here?" Alexis asked. Sam had asked her to take Danny so she and Jason could talk.

"Soon. I hope you don't mind, but I kind of want you guys gone before he gets here. Danny won't want to leave if he sees him," Sam said before turning to the stairs. "Danny, come down with your bag! Grandma's ready to take you home with her!"

"How are you doing with things?" Alexis asked. She'd spoken with her daughter about this a few days ago, but she had just found out and was probably still too shocked for it to fully hit her.

"I'm okay, though really angry, especially at Nikolas," Sam said. She was actually more angry at him that Elizabeth. She hated Elizabeth, but she was nothing to her. She didn't feel betrayed by her. She felt betrayed by Nikolas. They were supposed to be family. She felt it was reasonable to expect him to give her his loyalty over Elizabeth.

"I know. I still can't believe what he's done. I want you to know that I'm completely on your side, Sam," Alexis said. She still loved Nikolas and always would, but she wouldn't stand by him anymore. He had hurt her daughter and there was no forgiving that.

Sam smiled. "I know, Mom. You proved that when you refused to defend him. God, it's still unbelievable. Nikolas wanted to keep this a secret so badly that he was willing to kill a woman."

"Well, we don't know that for sure. Nikolas made terrible choices, but murder is a new league. We don't know he crossed that line," Alexis said.

"Yes, we do. Jason told me on the way back from the police station that Elizabeth admitted that Nikolas told her he'd ordered the hit," Sam said.

Alexis closed her eyes sadly and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Good God. What happened to him? Nikolas hated everything about Helena and now it appears he's become her."

Just then, Danny came running down the stairs. "Grandma!"

Alexis opened her arms just in time for her grandson to run into them. "Hey, sweetie. You ready to spend the night with me and Grandpa. Aunt Molly may stop by too.

Danny let go of her and smiled. "Yay! I need to tell her and grandpa about my daddy and my brothers and sister!"

Just then there was a knock at the door, causing Sam to sigh. That was going to be Jason, which meant it would be hard to get Danny to leave.

"I got it," Alexis said before opening the door to reveal Jason. "HI, Jason."

"Hey," Jason said.

Danny's eyes lit up and he ran to his father. "Daddy!"

Jason caught Danny and swung him up in his arms. "Hey, pal."

"I didn't know you were coming," Danny said.

"Yeah, Mommy and I need to talk. I'm glad I got to see you before you leave. Are you gonna spend the night at Grandma's?" Jason asked.

Danny looked between his mom and dad. "I don't want to go now."

Sam sighed. Her prediction that Danny would want to stay with his father came true. "Sweetie, Daddy and I need to talk alone, and you've been looking forward to going with Grandma and Grandpa all day."

"But Daddy's here now. I want to stay with him. Can't I go to Grandma and Grandpa's when he goes home?" Danny asked.

"No, honey. I told you, Daddy and I need to be alone," Sam said gently.

Jason put Danny down and bent down to his level. "It's alright, buddy. We'll see each other soon. In fact, I was planning to take your brothers and sister to see Grandma Monica. I know she'd love for you to come too." He quickly looked at Sam, hoping it was okay. He had planned to clear it with her first, but he wanted to make Danny's disappointment somewhat better.

Sam saw the look and quickly smiled to let him know she was fine with that.

"Yay! Can I sleepover at your house afterwards?" Danny asked

Sam once again nodded to Jason that it was okay as long as it was for him.

"Yeah, I'd like that and so would your big brothers," Jason said.

"Okay. Grandma, we can go," Danny said.

Alexis laughed. "I'm glad.

"Come give me a hug," Sam said.

Danny smiled and hurled himself into his mother's arms giving her a big hug. "Bye, Mommy."

"Bye, sweetie. I love you," Sam said before letting him go.

"I love you too," Danny said before running back to Jason and hugging him. "I love you too, Daddy."

"I love you too, buddy. I will see you this weekend," Jason said as he hugged him.

Danny let go and grabbed his grandmother's hand.

"Sam, if you want to talk later, call me," Alexis said.

Sam nodded and watched her mother leave with her son.

"Sam, I'm sorry for putting you on the spot with Danny. I planned to ask you first, but I wanted to make him feel better about leaving," Jason said.

"You didn't put me on the spot. Danny is your son too. You can take him whenever you want," Sam assured him.

"Well, you might have had plans," Jason said.

"I didn't. It's fine for you to take him. You are going to have to explain to him that your home is not where it used to be," she told him. It wouldn't really be hard or upsetting to him. Danny would probably be a little confused, but not upset. He wasn't really attached to Elizabeth. She was just someone there every time he visited. She had been nothing but his best friend's mother and his 'uncle's' 'husband'.

"Yeah, I know. I'll tell him when I pick him up. I'll come alone and then just pick the other kids up afterwards. I'm sure I can convince Carly to babysit for an hour," Jason said.

Sam nodded. "So we need to talk now."

"Yeah," Jason agreed.

"Let's sit down," Sam said before leading the way to the couch and sitting down.

Jason sat down next to her. "I've been thinking about what we should do for days. I wanna handle things in a way that nobody gets hurt."

"I don't think that's possible," Sam said. Pain was simply inevitable right now. Too much had happened for no one to get hurt. Hell, people were already hurt. Everyone was hurt.

"Yeah, I came to that conclusion too. I hate Elizabeth for this. She hurt us all and didn't give a damn. I'm not proud for even thinking this, but for a moment, I thought we should stay married just to spite her," Jason said.

Sam laughed. "That's amazing. I had the same split second thought. If it was just us, I might even say let's do it. Let's show the bitch that she can't mess with our lives. But it's not just us. We can't make decisions out of anger and spite. We can't be selfish like she was. We have kids to think about."

"Yeah, that's what I came to as well. My kids are suffering so badly. I just told Aiden the other day that Elizabeth and I are splitting up. He started crying. He's in pain, so is Cam. Allie misses her mother so much. She's started calling for her. I have to think about them and we have to think about Danny.

Sam nodded. "Yeah, I know. Look, honestly, I don't want a divorce, Jason. I want the life we planned."

Jason looked at her sadly. "Sam, I'm sorry, but we can't have that life. I don't remember that life and I don't think I ever will. But even if I did, you and I are different now. Six years have past since my 'death'. We both changed extensively."

"I know. God, I hate everyone who took it from us. We had a family and it was stolen from us over and over again. Why does it seem that people just line up to try to destroy us?" Sam asked angrily. She was really tired of it. For years it seemed someone just went out of their way to destroy her and Jason. They weren't ever allowed to just be happy and live their lives.

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault. And you're right, we are different. We won't ever have the life we had before you got shot. You know, even if it wouldn't have been the same, we could've had a chance to make things work if Nikolas and Elizabeth hadn't lied," Sam said.

"Yeah, we could've. I would've chosen you. I would've tried to make it work. Maybe we could've planned a new life together. I think we would've been happy. But that didn't happen," Jason said.

"No, but I think sometimes that maybe it still could. Maybe we could find our way together," Sam said. It was really all she could think about. She didn't want to give up on a life with Jason. She'd loved him so much. It was way no other relationship worked out. It was why she'd finally ended things with Patrick. She'd loved him, but her heart belonged to Jason and she just couldn't let him invest in her knowing that. Besides, he couldn't admit it then, but his heart still belonged to Robin.

"Sam, I wanna ask you a question and I want you to be honest with me. Do you love me? I don't mean love me as in the person who left you that night and got shot. Do you love who I am now? The guy who was Jake Doe a few days ago. The guy married to Elizabeth.

"Yes," Sam said without hesitation. She did love him, just not the way she should. "But not the way you mean. Jake Doe was a close friend and someone who loved my son like his own. I loved you for both those things. But I wasn't in love with you. I could've been if I let myself go there, but you were taken and I'd never go that route again."

"That's what I figured. I feel the same way about you. I love you, but not romantically. I'll be honest with you, maybe one day I could. Maybe one day we'll be together. Anything is possible. We could let ourselves go to that point and find that new life together. But it's not fair to either of us to put our lives on hold for that. It's certainly not fair to our kids," Jason said.

Sam nodded and wiped the tears that began to well up in her eyes. "I do understand that."

"Sam, I wish I could promise you that we could make it back or that I could even try, but I can't right now. My life is totally screwed up right now. And, yeah, I know yours is too. I don't want to minimize that," Jason said. He once again felt like he was being incredibly selfish, but he didn't know how else to put things.

"You're not. I know you care about me and are thinking of me too. Look, I really don't expect you to just jump into something with me. I think you're right when you said that wouldn't be fair to any of us. I also think it wouldn't work because we don't love each other the way we're supposed to. I'm just so reluctant to see our marriage end when I wanted it so much," Sam said in a cracked voice.

Jason hesitantly reached over and took her hand. "If we don't end it, we and our kids are stuck in limbo. Look, this doesn't mean we're accepting defeat or that we failed. It means that we're putting to bed that old life, because one way or another, that life is over. We have to accept that. Even if we make it back, it's still a fact. And if we do make it back, it should be from a fresh start. It's time to go forward."

Sam nodded. "You're right. I think I knew the whole time that it was gonna end this way. It's time to close that part of our lives.

Jason pulled her into his arms. "I'm really sorry."

Sam didn't reply. She simply cried in his arms as she was finally able to accept the loss of the husband she'd lost on the peer. Jason was right. He was gone.


	21. Chapter 21

"Daddy!" Danny exclaimed as he opened the door with his mother and found his father , there.

Jason picked the boy up and hugged him. "Hey, buddy, are you ready to go?"

"I have to get my backpack," Danny said.

"Okay, go get it," Jason said before putting his son down and watching him run up the stairs. Then he turned to Sam. "Hi. How are you?"

"I'm alright," Sam said. She really was. The decision she and Jason had made was very sad and hurtful, but it was the right one and she was making peace with it.

"I...I don't want things to get awkward," Jason said. He knew things were definitely going to be different than they were when he was Jake Doe, but he didn't want it so different that they couldn't be friends anymore.

Neither do I. We won't let that happen. I never want it so it's hard to be around each other, Jason," Sam said.

Danny came running down seconds later. "I'm ready, Daddy."

"Okay, we're gonna go in a minute," Jason said before taking Danny's backpack and then leading towards the couch. "First, I gotta talk to you about something.

"Okay," Danny said before practically leaping onto the couch.

Jason sat on Danny's right and Sam sat on the other side. "Okay, so we won't be going to the house tonight."

"But you said I could stay at your house tonight," said a crestfallen Danny.

Jason was quick to reassure the boy when he noticed the tears that started to well up in his arms. "No, you are, buddy. It's just that we won't be staying at the house. We'll be staying at Aunt Carly's hotel."

"How come?" Danny asked.

"Because I'm not living there anymore. Elizabeth and I aren't going to be living together anymore," Jason told him.

"You're getting a divorce?" Danny asked. He knew what a divorce was. Some of his friends' parents were divorced and he asked his Mommy once what that meant.

"Something like that," Jason said.

"Is it because of me?" Danny asked.

"Danny, why do you think it's because of you?" Sam asked, shocked her son would ever think he was the reason for this.

"Because Liz doesn't like me," Danny said.

"Did she tell you that?" Jason asked, barely containing his anger. He never thought he could be more angry at Elizabeth after what she did to him and his kids, but if she actually told his six-year-old son that she didn't want him around, he would go off completely.

"No, but I know she doesn't. She smiles at me and says nice things, but it's just pretend. She doesn't like it when I come over," Danny said.

"Danny, why didn't you tell me or Mommy that? Sam, I'm so sorry. I swear, I didn't know he'd picked up on that," Jason said. This was his fault. He knew Elizabeth had some issue with Danny. He should've done something more than just argue with her about it, but he really didn't Danny was aware of it.

"No, Jason, it's not your fault. I know you wouldn't have let it happen if you'd realized," Sam said.

"It's okay, Daddy. I don't care if Liz doesn't like me," Danny said.

"Why didn't you tell us, honey?" Sam asked.

"Because I liked going over there and I was scared you wouldn't let me anymore," Danny said.

"Buddy, you have to tell us things like this. If people are being mean to you or you don't think they want you around, we need to know," Jason said.

"That's right, Danny. You can't have secrets from us," Sam said firmly.

"Okay. So is it my fault? If it is, I'm sorry, Daddy," Danny said.

"No, it is not your fault. Don't ever think it is. Elizabeth and I are breaking up because of grown up problems between us. You, your brothers, and sister have nothing to do with it," Jason said. He needed to make this clear. He had done so with Aiden, but he hadn't realized he'd have to with Danny. He never thought the boy would blame himself.

"Okay," Danny said. As long as it wasn't his fault, he didn't care if his daddy got a divorce from Liz. "So you're gonna live at Aunt Carly's hotel now?"

"Well, no, we're just staying there until I find a new house," Jason said.

"Will I get to stay at your new house?" Danny asked.

"Of course, buddy. It will be your house too," Jason said.

"We're moving in with you?" Danny asked excitedly. He would love it if he and his mommy could live with his daddy. He could see his daddy and brothers and sister all the time.

"No, sweetie, not exactly. You're going to be living here sometimes and sometimes with Daddy," Sam said.

"Yeah, and at this house, you'll have your own stuff there. You won't have to sleep in a sleeping bag. You'll have your own bed, maybe even your own room. And we can keep some of your stuff there, so you won't have to bring a bag every time," Jason added.

"Cool! Would I get to stay there a lot?" Danny asked.

"Well, we haven't figured out how often, but, yeah, you'll get to be with your daddy a lot," Sam promised.

"Cam, Aiden, and Allie will live there too, right?" Danny asked.

"Well, I want that, but so does Elizabeth, so we're going to be going to court to have someone else make that decision," Jason said.

"Okay. Are we gonna go now. I want to see them and then go to Grandma's," Danny said.

"Yeah, we can go," Jason said before standing up.

"Give me a hug," Sam said.

Danny smiled and hugged his mom tightly. "Bye, Mommy."

"Bye. I love you. I'll call you tonight before bed," Sam said as she released him.

Danny nodded and stood up and grabbed his father's hand.

"Bye," Jason said to Sam before headed for the door.


	22. Chapter 22

Jason made it to Monica's front door with Allie in his arms and his three boys at his side. He turned to the boys when they all arrived. "Okay, you guys know how to behave when at someone else's house. We don't touch anything without permission and we be polite, right?"

Cameron and Aiden both nodded.

"We can't touch any of Aunt Tracy's things. She'll get mad," Danny said from experience.

"That's because you shouldn't touch stuff that's not yours," Jason half lectured.

"I know. Mommy and Grandma both said so," Danny said.

"Okay, well, are you guys ready?"

They all nodded.

Jason turned around and rang the doorbell.

The door was opened a second later by Alice. "Hello, Mr. Morgan. Hi, Danny."

"Hi, Alice," Danny said brightly.

"Come on in. Doctor Quartermain has been expecting you," Alice said.

"Thanks," Jason said before ushering the boys in first and then walking in with Allie.

Monica came from the living room a second later. "Hi, guys."

"Grandma!" Danny exclaimed before running into his grandmother's arms.

"Hi, sweetheart. I've missed you," Monica said.

"I missed you too," Danny said before letting go and grabbing her hand, pulling her towards his father and siblings. "Look, Grandma, my daddy's back and I have brothers and a sister."

"I know. It's wonderful. Hi, boys," Monica said to the children.

"Hi, Doctor Quartermain," Cam said, unsure of what else to call her.

"Hi, Cameron. How about you call me Monica for now? I'd of course love for you to call me 'Grandma', but I understand you're probably not comfortable with that right now," Monica said.

Cam smiled slightly in response.

"I can call you Grandma too, right?" Aiden asked.

Monica bent down slightly. "Of course. I am your grandma, Aiden. I wish I'd known all this time. I would've been happy to know you."

"Me too. Daddy says you're my grandma because you're his mom," Aiden said.

"That's right. I was so happy to have him back and to find out he'd given me three more grandchildren. I can't wait to get to you and your brother and sister," Monica said.

"Speaking of, this is Allie," Jason said as he smiled at the little girl in his arms.

Monica stood up straight and placed a hand on Allie's back. "Hi, Allie. I'm your grandma."

"Hi!" The little girl said happily.

"She's almost two now, right?" Monica asked Jason.

"A year and a half. She's growing really quickly. They all do," Jason said before smiling at his boys."

"Yes, you and your brother did too. I couldn't believe how quick it went," Monica said.

"Where's Michael?" Danny asked. He loved his cousin and was always excited to see him when he came to visit. MIchael always played with him and spent time with him even though he was a lot older than Danny.

"I'm afraid Michael had to leave. He had an emergency at work. He wanted to be here to see you all, but he couldn't help it," Monica explained.

"Well, he didn't call me, so I guess it's not a security issue Jason said. He hoped it wasn't a Nikolas type of emergency, where they were in danger of losing the company.

"No, although, I don't think he would've called you today if it were," Monica said.

Danny was a little disappointed that he wouldn't get to see Michael, but he quickly got over it. "Grandma, can I show Cam and Aiden my room?"

"Of course you can. Go on up," Monica said

"Come on!" Danny said before running towards the stairs. The other two boys followed.

"Would you like to hold her?" Jason asked, referring to his daughter.

"I would love that," Monica said before reaching out for the toddler and taking her into her arms. "Hi, sweetheart. She looks a little bit like you, Jason. Well, from before your last accident obviously."

"I always wondered if she did, but I had no way of finding out before," Jason said.

"Come into the living room and we'll sit down," Monica said before leading the way.

Jason followed her and they sat down on the couch.

Monica settled Allie on her lap. "How are you doing, Jason?"

Jason sighed. "Things aren't easy right now, but I'll be okay. I'm more worried about the kids. They miss their mother. Well, Aiden and Allie do. Cam is angry with his mother right now."

"Michael says you're suing for custody," Monica commented.

Jason nodded. "My kids need a parent that will put them first. Elizabeth proved in just a few days that she'll never be that parent. But I'd rather not discuss this any further in front of Allie." He would not talk badly about Elizabeth in front of his kids. The boys understood that he was upset with her and why, well, to a lesser extent with Aiden, but he would not insult her, even if it was deserved in front of them. And while Allie wouldn't really understand much, he still wouldn't do it in front of her.

"Of course. I'm sorry," Monica said.

"No, it's fine. I can understand you being curious about what's going on. For now, I'll just say that for now, the kids and I are living at the Metro Court until I find a place, and that if I have it my way, they'll be living with me indefinitely," Jason said.

"I know Michael already made this offer, but I want to give it to you myself. You and the children are welcome to stay here," Monica said.

"I appreciate that, but in order to move on and give my kids stability, we need to find our own permanent place," Jason said.

"I understand. I just wanted you to know you're welcome," Monica said.

"Thank you."

"If you don't mind me asking, how are things going with you and Sam?" Monica asked. She'd worried about how this would affect Sam. She'd spoken to her a couple of times, but at those points, there didn't seem to be any resolution.

Jason sighed. The situation with Sam was a bit touchy. He hated the pain he was causing her. He knew that he'd hurt her when he suggested that they divorce. It was the right decision and Sam knew that as well, but it still hurt her and he hated that. "We've decided to end things."

Monica gave her son a sad look. She thought that was how things would work out. How could either of them ignore nearly six years of being apart? How could Jason just move on from three years of being married to someone else. Yes, he'd left Elizabeth, but a part of him still loved her. He didn't love Sam the way he should right now. Divorce was expected. But it was very sad, especially for Sam. She'd never been able to really move on from Jason. "I'm sorry, Jason."

Allie, Meanwhile, crawled over from Monica to her father.

Jason smiled and settled his little girl in his lap. "I know it had to happen. I can't be a true husband to Sam, even if it is technically who I am. She doesn't deserve a guy who can't really give her his heart. I just can't right now. Besides, I'm not really the man she loves. Even if I get my memories back, I won't be that person. But even though It was the right decision, I hate it. I'm causing Sam pain."

"It's not your fault," Monica said.

Jason sighed. "Maybe not, but I still hate it."

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Later that night, Sam made her way to the Metro court bar. It had been a very trying few weeks and she needed a drink. Danny was with Jason for the night, so it was the perfect time. Sure, she'd been Danny free a couple of days ago too, but that was a very bad night for her and drinking seemed like a bad idea.

As Sam made it to the bar area, she saw Carly behind the counter. "Since when does the owner play bartender?"

"Since she's understaffed and the real bartender called out sick," Carly retorted with quite a bit of irritation in her voice. She quickly slapped together a drink she knew Sam liked and gave it to her. "I'm guessing this is way overdue."

"You can't even imagine," Sam said as she took a seat. She picked up the drink and took a sip.

"I haven't had a chance to talk to you. How are you doing?" Carly asked.

"That's because I've been avoiding calls that weren't from my parents, Jason, or Monica. I've had enough sympathy and pity. I feel like Jason's died all over again with the way everyone talks to me," Sam said. She had to put up with that even with her parents and Monica, so she was pretty much avoided everyone else she could.

"I get it. Sorry to be one of those people. It's just, you've just had one hell of a shock, as well as a slap in the face from the bitch who stole your husband. People are worried about you. We wanna know how you're handling things. Maybe we can help," Carly said.

Sam shook her head sadly. "No one can help, Carly. She destroyed us."

"Like hell! You can make it back, Sam," Carly said.

Sam shook her head once more. "We're getting a divorce."

Carly sighed unhappily. "Whose idea was this?"

"We both decided it was the best decision," Sam said.

"To let Elizabeth win?" Carly asked in disbelief.

"No. We didn't figure Elizabeth in at all. This was about us and our kids. We had to decide what was right, and it wasn't right for us to stay married knowing things aren't the same," Sam said.

"You could make it back," Carly argued.

"Yeah, maybe, but there's no guarantee, especially now. Jason's life is falling apart. The life he's built is over. Now he has to figure out how things go on for him and his kids, and that's going to take a lot of time. Besides, even if we were to make it back, it wouldn't be the same. Jason said we should see this as a new start and he's right," Sam said.

"If you believe that, why do you look like you're going to lose it?" Carly asked gently.

"Be...Because I'm saying goodbye to my husband. Because it feels like he really is dying all over again," Sam cracked.

Carly seized her friend's hand and held it in her own comfortingly.

"It's the right decision, but it's so painful. He says we haven't failed, but it feels like we have. My marriage is over and it's even worse than the first time. I'm so glad Jason's not dead, but in some ways, it was easier to accept the end of my marriage when I thought he was," Sam cried.

"Because there was nothing you could do about it," Carly said understandingly.

"Yeah. Now we're giving up. Well, no, we're not, but a part of me can't help but feel that way. You're right. In a way, we're letting Elizabeth win, but there's no real choice. God, I just hate all of this," Sam said before burying her head in her hands.

Carly rubbed Sam's hand for a minute and then poured her another drink, decided that since the other woman was kid free for the night, she was going to get her drunk and let her forget her very many problems for the night.


	23. Chapter 23

Sam showed up at Jason's hotel room the next evening to pick up Danny. She knocked on the door and waited for an answer.

Jason opened the door a second later. "Hey, come on in."

"Thanks," Sam said before walking inside.

"Thanks for picking him up, though I had no problem dropping him off," Jason said.

"I know you didn't, but it's a whole lot less of a chore for me to come get him than for you to juggle four kids just to drop one off. Besides, you picked him up, so it's only fair. Thanks for keeping him all day by the way. I hope I wasn't inconveniencing you," Sam said. She'd had to call and ask Jason to keep Danny until after dinner. She'd gotten very drunk last night and woke up with one hell of a hangover.

"No, not at all. I was glad to have a few more hours with him. Are you okay though? You sounded out of it on the phone this morning," Jason said.

Sam winced. "I screwed up. I went out for a drink last night and ran into Carly. She kind of decided that one drink was not enough."

Jason chuckled and nodded in understanding.

"It was irresponsible of me to get so hammered," Sam said.

"No, it wasn't. You didn't have Danny. It was your night to do as you pleased. And frankly, the only thing keeping me from living in a bar right now is the kids. I get the need to let loose and find a way to cope. It's not like you're planning on making it a habit," Jason said.

"After this morning, definitely not," Sam said.

Just then, Danny and Aiden come out from the other room. Danny ran to his mother. "Mommy!"

Sam smiled and hugged her little boy. "Hey, sweetie. I missed you."

"I missed you too, Mommy. We had a lot of fun though. We went to Grandma Monica's and Cam and Aiden got to pick out their own room. Grandma picked out Allie's," Danny explained.

"It sounds like it was fun. Aiden, did you like visiting the Quartermaines?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. They had a really big house. Grandma says me and Cam and Allie can stay there sometimes if we want, like Danny does. She's nice, and Michael lives there too. He's always nice to us," Aiden said.

"That's great. I think you guys are gonna love the Quartermaines," Sam said genuinely. Despite their flaws, the Quartermaines stood by family when it counted. Even Tracy, despite her cold front, always proved her loyalty.

"Mommy, guess what else we did?" Danny asked before continuing without giving his mother a chance to answer. "We looked at the house Daddy's gonna buy.

"Hang on, buddy. I haven't decided yet if I'm gonna buy it," Jason said.

"Well, I hope you do. I liked it. Mommy, it was really big. Well, not as big as Grandma's. No house is that big, but it's bigger than our house and Daddy's old one. If he buys it, me and Aiden are gonna share a room. It's gonna be just as much mine as his," Danny said excitedly.

"That's great, honey. We'll have to start sorting some of your clothes and toys for Daddy's house. That way you won't have to pack a bag every time," Sam said.

"Yes!"

Just then, Cam came out from the boys' room.

"Hi, Cameron," Sam greeted.

"Hi, Sam," Cam said with a wave.

"Okay, sweetie. Is all your stuff ready?" Sam asked Danny.

"Yeah, it's right here," Jason said before walking over and grabbing his son's already packed bag from the chair on the other side of the room. He brought it over to his son and helped him put it on his back. "Okay, buddy, I'll see you soon. I love you."

"I love you too, Daddy," Danny said before giving his brother a big hug. Then he turned to his brothers. "Bye, Cam, bye Aiden."

"Bye, Danny," Aiden said.

"Bye, little brother," Cam said with a smile. If it had been anyone else, Cam probably would've found it hard to just accept the kid as his new brother, but Danny had been a virtual part of his family for almost three years. It wasn't much of transition at all.

"I didn't get to say goodbye to Allie," Danny said sadly.

"I know, buddy, but we don't want to wake her. You'll see her again soon anyway," Jason said.

"Okay, let's get home. It's getting pretty late," Sam said.

Danny nodded and followed his mother to the door.

Sam opened the door and was greeted by her mother. "Mom, hi."

"Hey. This is a nice surprise," Alexis said.

"Hi, Grandma. Did you know we were here?" Danny asked.

"No, sweetie. I'm actually here to talk to your dad. Did you have a nice visit with him?" Alexis asked.

"Uh huh. We went to see my other grandma," Danny said.

"Well, that sounds like it was fun. You'll have to tell me about it later. I'll come see you guys tomorrow, okay?" Alexis asked.

"That'd be great, Mom. Right now, I should get him home," Sam said.

"Yeah. I'll see you soon," Alexis said before squeezing her daughter's shoulder and then letting them both pass her.

Jason waved Alexis in. "Come on in, Alexis. Uh, boys, go finish your homework. I know it isn't done yet. Cam, check on your sister as well for me, please."

Cam nodded and led the way out of the room

Alexis, meanwhile walked inside and closed the door. "I'm sorry to just show up to your room like this, Jason, but I didn't want to chance waiting long enough to make an appointment."

"What's wrong?" Jason asked.

"Elizabeth has retained an attorney, Ric Lansing," Alexis said. Ric had told her all about how she was going to destroy Jason in court. It was really lucky for them that Ric loved to gloat.

Jason couldn't say he was surprised. Ric would do anything if Elizabeth asked him to. The man was obsessed with her. He proved that when he hired Hayden to get rid of Jason. "Alright, what does this mean?"

"It means we'll have to go to court sooner than I would've liked. I'm sure Ric will be filing a temporary custody motion on Elizabeth's behalf. You'll probably get the summons soon. Jason, how are you coming along in procuring permanent housing?" Alexis asked.

"I've looked at some places. I just took the kids to see a house today. If I don't have a place by the time the hearing hits, it's gonna hurt us, isn't it?" Jason asked.

"Very much so. The judge will be more inclined to send three kids back to their home with their mother than leave them in a hotel with their father," Alexis said.

Jason nodded. "The boys liked the house we saw today. I'll put an offer down."

"Good. If you and your children are already moved in, I can argue that they are thriving well and would be unsettled by being uprooted again," Alexis said.

"Anything else?" Jason asked. He would do whatever it took to keep custody of his kids, whatever Alexis thought was necessary.

"Not for this hearing, but you need to be aware that this custody battle will be brutal. Custody is the most nasty type of case there is. Everything you've ever done is going to be used against you, and it won't matter that you don't remember it, it will still be brought up. You need to be ready for that," Alexis warned him.

Jason nodded.

"We can go over that another time. I also wanted to inform you that I have a meeting with a judge scheduled to dissolve your marriage to Elizabeth. Like I told you, it will be straight forward. You won't even have to be there. I will present your marriage liscense to Sam and explain the facts. By the end of the meeting, your marriage will be declared illegal," Alexis said.

"Great," Jason said.

"Do you have any questions?" Alexis asked.

"Not now," Jason said.

"Call me if you have any. I'll be in touch," Alexis said before heading for the door.


	24. Chapter 24

Jason was in his new place bringing boxes in. Carly was helping too and so was Michael, though Michael was helping keep Aiden and Allie occupied. Cam was helping with unpacking.

"Okay, Jason, where do you want this?" Carly asked as she came in with a box.

Jason turned from what he was doing. "Uh, just put anywhere for now. I'll figure it out once everything's inside. Carly, I really appreciate you helping."

"Of course. Sonny would've helped too if you'd let him," Carly said. She couldn't help but try to mend the relationship between Jason and Sonny. It just wasn't right for things to be like this. Sure, Jason and Sonny had had their falling outs before, but this seemed different. It seemed more final. This Jason just wasn't the kind of person who could be Sonny's friend, and that didn't didn't sit right.

Jason sighed. "Carly, please don't."

"Look, I just find it sad. You and Sonny were friends before I even knew you. It's not right that that's just over because that bitch…"

"My kids are nearby, Carly, don't!" Jason said somewhat harshly.

Carly nodded. "Sorry."

Just then, there was a knock on the open front door. They both turned to see Sam and Danny.

"Daddy!" Danny exclaimed before barreling towards his father.

Jason caught Danny easily and picked him up. "Hey, buddy."

"Mommy says I get to stay here tonight!" said an excited Danny. He was really happy. His dad had bought the house he and his brothers liked and he got to have a room and some of his stuff there.

"That's right. Did you bring some of your stuff for your new room?" Jason asked.

"Yeah, Mommy's got it," Danny said.

Sam smiled and held up her son's duffle bag.

"Great," Jason said before putting his son down on the floor. He then knelt down to his level. "So we don't have any furniture yet. It won't be here until tomorrow, but I thought we could all have a fun camp out in the living room with our sleeping bags."

"Can we camp outside instead?" Danny asked hopefully.

"Not tonight, but maybe we can do that this summer," Jason compromised.

"Okay."

"Okay. You know, your cousin, Michael's in the backyard with your brother and sister. You wanna go play with them?" Jason asked.

"Michael's here? Yay!" the boy said hyperly before rushing towards the back.

"Hey, can I get a hug first? You'd think I wasn't even here?" Carly said playfully.

Danny came back and hugged Carly around the waist. "Hi, Aunt Carly."

"I want a hug too. I'm gonna be leaving soon," Sam said as she handed Jason Danny's bag.

Once he was done with Carly, he want back to his mother and gave her a big hug. "Bye, Mommy.

"Bye, sweetie. I'll miss you," Sam said as she hugged her son back.

Danny let go after a minute and ran out of the room happily.

Sam turned to Jason. "As you can see he's really excited. I was surprised you wanted him today. You're gonna be pretty busy moving in."

"Eh, I already have three. One won't make much more difference. Michael's helping in that regard, and I really wanted to have all my kids together on our first night in the new place," Jason said.

"Personally, I think Michael's getting off easy. He agrees to hang out with the kids and gets to avoid the heavy lifting. I'm gonna go see if Cam needs help upstairs," Carly said before heading out of the room.

"I wish I could help you too, but I promised my sisters a girl's night," Sam said.

"That's fine. You've already helped me in a lot of ways. How are you doing?" Jason asked.

"I'm okay. I mean, honestly, this whole thing is still hard, but it's no worse than thinking you were dead for nearly six years. Besides, I've got it much easier than you. You're whole life has been torn apart. How are _you_?" Sam asked.

"The kids are getting me through it. The worst part I'd say is the pain they're going through. I hope that once the custody issue is resolved, they can finally adjust and heal. Your mom says it could take months or longer though," Jason said. He wasn't really happy to hear that, but there wasn't much he could do unless he and Elizabeth worked something out and that wouldn't happen. He couldn't co-parent with someone he couldn't trust with his kids.

"When's the temporary custody hearing?" Sam asked. Jason had already told her that Elizabeth had retained Ric and was taking him to court. That was why he'd had to speed up the moving process.

"Wednesday at eleven. Luckily, the boys will be in school and Monica agreed to watch Allie," Jason said.

"Do the boys know?" Sam wondered.

"Only Cameron. I don't want to concern Aiden with it unless I have to. He barely understands what's going on with his mother and me anyway," Jason said.

Sam nodded. "Listen, I'm sure my mother's told you this and you already know some after the lie with Hayden, but Ric fights dirty, not to mention that he hates you. He's going to use anything that he can."

"Yeah, I know. Your mother did warn me, and I may not remember, but I have been apprised of everything he did. I know he's scum," Jason said.

"I just wanted to make sure you were prepared. Okay, well, I'll see you tomorrow. I have to get going," Sam said.

"Okay, I hope you have a good time," Jason said.

"Thanks,' she said before heading for the door.


	25. Chapter 25

Jason was seated next to Alexis on their side of the courtroom as they waited for the custody hearing to start. He couldn't help but be worried. What if the judge took his kids away? Even temporarily that would break him. He loved his kids so much and they were finally beginning to adjust to not living with Elizabeth. That would all go away if the judge gave her temporary custody. Jason certainly didn't trust Elizabeth to help them. She wouldn't put them first. She'd proven that. Not to mention that Cameron didn't even want to see his mother, let alone live with her.

Jason soon felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around, and much to his surprise, found Sam there. "Hey, what are you doing here? You didn't have to come."

"Of course I did. At the very least, you're my friend and Danny's father. I wanted to be here for you. Why do you think I asked you when this hearing was? You really didn't think I'd come?" Sam asked with a chuckle. She thought she'd made it clear she was coming. No, she hadn't actually said she was coming, but she figured it would be obvious that she was.

"I certainly knew she was coming. Hi, sweetheart," Alexis greeted her daughter.

"Hi, Mom."

"You shouldn't have to be a part of my problems," Jason said. He loved that Sam had come. He secretly wanted her there, but he felt bad involving her. She was going through so much. He knew he hurt her by suggesting a divorce and he also knew that bringing her around his problems with Elizabeth had to make it much worse.

"I could smack you for saying that. Supporting you is not an obligation, Jason," Sam said firmly.

"I know it's not, but being around this can't be easy for you. I don't want to make things harder," Jason said.

"This situation isn't easy for anyone. We all are in pain because of what happened and we all have to deal with the consequences for it. That doesn't mean I'm going to abandon a friend who has been there for me and my son for the better part of three years. The fact that you're my husband just makes me want to be here for you even more. Stop trying to punish yourself, Jason. It is not your fault, it's hers," Sam said as she glanced over at Elizabeth, whom she noticed was glaring at her.

"Amen to that," Carly said, catching the tail end of the conversation as she came over to sit next to Sam.

Jason smiled at Sam. "I am glad you're here, both of you."

"Michael would've come too, but he has meetings all day," Carly said.

"I know. He told me yesterday before I left ELQ for the day that he wasn't going to be able to make it," Jason said.

"Alright, it looks like we're about to start," Alexis said to Jason.

The judge arrived seconds later and the hearing began. As the petitioner, Ric was to go first. "You're Honor, I believe this should be solved quite simply. Mr. Morgan kidnapped my client's children and we want them returned to her."

"You're Honor, the term 'kidnapping' is outrageous. My client is their father and he took them no further than a hotel room here in town."

"He's the father of only one. Cameron and Aiden are not his children," Ric said.

Jason felt his blood boil at hearing this bastard try to claim his boys were not his, but he remained calm. He would not give Ric the satisfaction.

Alexis stood up outraged. "Objection! As opposing council well knows, adoption is recognized in this state and every other."

"Yes, but last I checked, Jason Morgan didn't adopt anyone. Those boys were adopted by Jake Doe," Ric said.

"Mr. Lansing, did you really expect that argument to work in my courtroom?" the judge asked.

"Your Honor, my client consented to have her sons adopted by a man she took into her home, whom was a law abiding citizen, not a known criminal," Ric said.

"Then she should've thought twice before allowing a man with a questionable past adopt her children. She chose to allow it to go through knowing at the very least that this man had no knowledge of his past. She can deal with the consequences now. I'm not going to overturn a legal adoption because your client didn't think she'd find herself in court when she allowed it," the judge said firmly.

"Understood, Your Honor. These children should still be returned to their mother though. Mr. Morgan underhandedly had them whisked away under false pretenses with every intention of keeping them away from your mother," Ric said.

"Those are baseless accusations, Your Honor. My client had just found out that Ms. Webber had knowingly kept his identity from him. A family friend offered to take them for the night and my client agreed so that his children would not be present when he confronted Ms. Webber. It wasn't until the next day that Mr. Morgan made the decision to seek custody," Alexis said.

"Well, that sounds pretty convenient, doesn't it? Your honor, Mr. Morgan uprooted these children from their home and into a hotel. It's our belief that since then, he has worked to alienate them from their mother," Ric said.

"Another unfounded accusation. It's true that Mr. Morgan moved his kids into a hotel, Your Honor, but he did so because he no longer trusted her to care for his children properly. Ms. Webber lied to him for years, married him knowing he was married to someone else, and kept him from his child. He believes her actions have caused emotional damage to their kids. His actions were for their benefit," Alexis said.

The judge raised his hand to stop them as Ric opened his mouth to speak. "Okay, enough. These issues are for a permanent hearing. This is a temporary hearing that needs to be wrapped up quickly. Now, Mr. Morgan, I don't agree with your decision to move your children into a hotel. I believe you upset their stability by doing it, even if you did believe it was the best course of action. However, I've heard you've moved into a home of your own now and the children have likely begun to adjust. I see no reason to interrupt that process, so I'm granting you temporary custody."

Jason sighed in relief. He had been afraid there for a second that the judge was going to side with Elizabeth. "Thank you, Your Honor."

"I'm not done, Mr. Morgan. You need to start giving Ms. Webber access to her children. This is non-negotiable, do you understand?"

"Yes, Your Honor," Jason said. Alexis had warned him that would happen anyway.

"Ms. Webber will be allowed to spend at least every weekend with her children until this is resolved. Court is adjourned," the judge said before banging his gavel, ending the hearing.

Carly patted Jason's shoulder as they all stood up. "Congratulations, though she shouldn't have even got that much time with those kids."

"I have primary custody at the moment. That's what matters." Jason said. No, he wasn't happy that he had to send his kids to Elizabeth every weekend without him, but it was better than him having to say goodbye to them today for the foreseeable future.

"Jason, if you want, we can switch things around with Danny so you can have him with your other kids," Sam said. They had mostly done weekends with also a dinner or two during the week, but Jason was just as capable of picking Danny up from school and dropping him off as she was and she wanted him to spend time with his brothers and sister."

"I appreciate that. I'll call you tonight and we can make plans. Right now, I wanna get out of here before Elizabeth tries to talk to me," Jason said.

"Of course, go," Sam said.

"Thank you for coming. I really was happy to have you here," Jason said before touching her arm briefly and then leaving.


	26. Chapter 26

Jason stood in his daughter's room packing her diaper bag to send her and the boys off with Elizabeth. It was the first weekend he had to let them go and already it was not going well. Sending his kids off with Elizabeth was hard enough on him, but on top of that, Cameron was being quite difficult. He did not want to with his mother and he'd made that very clear.

Once Jason finished packing his daughter's bag, he went over to the crib and picked her up. Then he headed downstairs to the living room where he found Cam on the couch playing a video game. "Cam, I asked you go get your bag ready."

"There's no need. I'm not going," Cam said without even turning to his father.

"Yes, you are, Cameron. There is a court order saying you need to spend weekends with your mother," Jason said.

"I don't care. I don't want to go anywhere with her," Cam said.

Jason sighed and put Alli down in the playpen next to the couch. He dropped the diaper bag next to it and went and sat next to his son. "Look, I know you don't want to go. I don't want that either. We don't have a choice. This was a decision made by a judge, and you know, it could've been a lot worse"

"I know. I...I hate her, Dad. She ruined our lives!" Cam said loudly.

"Don't say that. You don't hate your mother," Jason said. Despite how he felt about Elizabeth, he didn't want his kids feeling that way. At the end of the day, she was still their mother and loved them, even if it didn't seem it was enough.

"I do. She took Danny and Sam away from you. She's the reason we had to leave our home and why you're getting a divorce. She doesn't even care that she hurt us."

"I know, son. Look, I know you're made, but you have to do this. There's no other choice. And I need you to try to be calm and respectful this weekend as well, if for no other reason than for your brother and sister.

Cam sighed. He did realize he didn't have a choice, despite his stubborn attempts to try to stop it. Fine, I'll go. And I'll try not to go at her with Aiden or Allie present. I can't promise anything else."

"Alright, I guess that's good enough. Now can you go pack please?" Jason asked.

Cam nodded stood up, very slowly making his way towards the stairs.

Jason sat there for a few minutes before hearing Aiden's voice.

"Daddy?"

Jason turned to see Aiden sitting at the foot of the stairs. "Hey, buddy. You got all your stuff ready?"

"Do I have to go?" Aiden asked.

"I thought you wanted to see Mommy," Jason said. He thought he was home free when he finally dealt with Cam. He never thought Aiden would argue about spending the weekend with his mother. He'd been wanting to see her for weeks.

"I do, but Danny's here. I'm gonna miss his whole visit," Aiden said dramatically.

Jason sighed. He and Sam had decided that Danny would still come for the weekend even though they'd decided to change the schedule around. They'd already had plans for him to come when the custody hearing happened and neither of them wanted to disappoint the little boy. Besides, this would give Jason some one on one time with Danny and didn't really have much of that. "Yeah, I know, but Danny's going to be back for a night in the middle of the week, and starting next week, he's going to be spending two or three days with us in the middle of the week, that way you can go to Mommy's without worrying about missing his visits."

"Oh, okay," Aiden said.

Just then, the doorbell rang.

"That's Mommy. Go get your bag please," Jason said.

"Okay," Aiden said before running back upstairs.

Jason reluctantly made his way to the door. He wasn't looking forward to this. He tried to avoid Elizabeth as much as possible, knowing all he'd hear from her was her stupid excuses for what she did to him and his family. Unfortunately, he could no longer avoid that.

Sure enough, when Jason opened the door, he found Elizabeth on the other side. "Come in. The boys are still getting their things together."

"Oh, that's okay. We can talk while we wait," Elizabeth said as she entered the house. She glanced around the living room. "Nice house."

Jason just grunted in response.

"Mama!" Alli squealed from the playpen.

"Hi, baby," Elizabeth said as she went over and picked up her daughter. "I missed you, sweetie. Are you ready to go home?"

"Boys, your mother's here! Come on!" Jason called up the stairs. He wanted this over with as soon as possible.

"How have they been doing here?" Elizabeth asked.

"Fine," Jason said shortly.

"Well, I'm sure they miss their home and their family together the way it should be," Elizabeth said.

Jason forced himself to remain calm, despite the anger he felt at the manipulative comment. "They like this house. All my boys urged me to buy it.

Just then, Aidren ran back downstairs. "Mommy!" he exclaimed as he ran to her.

Elizabeth put the arm that wasn't currently holding her daughter around her son. "Hi, Aiden. I missed you so much."

Cam soon came down with his duffle slung over his shoulder.

"Hi, sweetie. Can I get a hug?" Elizabeth asked once she released Aiden.

"I'm good," Cam said shortly before going over to stand by his dad.

"Cameron, come on. It's been so long since I saw you," Elizabeth said.

Cam remained stubbornly in spot. He was forced to go and he promised his dad he'd try not to yell and scream, but he made no such promises on pretending to be happy about.

Soon, another pair of footsteps were heard on the step and Danny soon made his way to the group.

"Hi, Danny," Elizabeth said with a fake smile on her face.

Danny made his way over to his father and leaned into his side.

"Everything okay, buddy?" Jason asked.

Danny ignored his father's question and looked at Elizabeth. "Why'd you take my daddy away?"

"W...what?" Elizabeth stammered, clearly taken aback by the young boy's question.

"You made my daddy leave me and my mommy. Why? Why didn't you want us to have him?" Danny asked.

Jason knelt down and turned his son to face him. "Danny, who told you that?"

"Isn't it obvious? His mother told him. She probably couldn't wait," Elizabeth sneered.

"Don't say mean things about my Mommy!" the six-year-old yelled as he turned to glare at the woman.

"Elizabeth, I am talking to my son. I'd appreciate it if you stayed out of it," Jason said through gritted teeth before once again, turning Danny back to face him. "Son, who told you that?"

"Cam," Danny answered.

Cam immediately shook his head. "Dad, I didn't, I swear. I would never say that to him."

"You were on the phone with Emma," Danny told his brother.

Cam shut his eyes and mentally slapped himself. He remembered that day. He was on the phone with Emma and Aiden and Danny were spying from outside the room. He'd been so annoyed at them for spying that it didn't occur to him that they heard what he was saying. "Dad, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for him to hear that."

"It's not your fault," Jason assured his youngest before turning back to Danny. "Buddy, can you do me a favor and go up to your room and play for a little bit. I'll come up soon, okay?"

"Okay."

"Bye, Danny," Aiden said quietly.

"Bye," Danny said before walking towards the stairs.

Cameron ruffled his brother's hair as he went in a sort of apologetic way.

"Okay, come give me a hug, Aiden," Jason said.

Aiden immediately ran into his father's arms and hugged him tightly. "Bye, Daddy."

"Have fun, buddy. I'll see you in a couple of days," Jason said before standing up. He quickly stood up and went and retrieved Alli's bag. He went over to Elizabeth and gave her the bag before taking his daughter from her. "Hey, sweetie. I'm gonna miss you. You be good for Mommy."

"Mama," Alli stated.

"Cameron, come take your brother and sister out to the car please," Jason said before grabbing Alli's jacket from the hook and maneuvering it on her. He then tossed Cam his jacket and gave Aiden his.

Cam put his jacket on and made his way over only to be pulled into his father's arms.

"Remember what we talked about, alright?"

Cam nodded and pulled away. Then he lifted his sister into his arms and led Aiden out of the house.

Once his kids were gone, Jason turned to Elizabeth. "Don't you ever speak about my son's mother like that in front of him or me again! In fact, do not speak to my son at all!"

"But it's okay for her to badmouth me?" Elizabeth asked.

"Sam has never talked badly about you in front of the kids, and as we both know, she has reason to. It really just goes to show that she's a better person than you. Now get out. I have to try to figure out what to say to my son," Jason said.

"Well, what am I supposed to say to Aiden. He heard what Danny said. He's going to ask about it," Elizabeth said.

"He already knew about. And as for what you're going to say to him, that's your problem, not mine. I explained things to him the best I could, but you're the only one that can explain your terrible decisions. But I'm warning you now, Elizabeth, don't you dare lie to him," Jason said coldly.

"Jason, please..."

"I said get out!"

Elizabeth turned sadly towards the door and headed out.

Once Elizabeth was gone, Jason headed upstairs to his son's bedroom. He found his son laying on his stomach on his bed looking unhappy. "Hey, buddy. Can we talk for a few minutes?"

"Am I in trouble?" Danny asked.

"Of course not," Jason said before picking Danny up, sitting down in his place and sitting the boy on his lap. "Why would you be in trouble?"

"Because I yelled at Liz and it's not nice to yell," Danny said.

"No, it's not, but it wasn't nice for Liz to say mean things about your mommy," Jason said.

"Why does she hate me and Mommy?" Danny asked. He never really cared before that Liz didn't like him, but that was before he found out she took his daddy away from him on purpose. He wanted to know why.

Jason sighed and tried to find the words to explain this. He wouldn't lie. Danny deserved to know the truth. Jason just had to find the words to explain things to Danny that he'd understand. "You know that before I got hurt, Mommy, you and I lived together, right?"

"Yeah, we were a family," Danny said.

"Well, Elizabeth didn't like that. She wanted me to live with her. So she told a lot of lies to make sure that happened," Jason said.

"It's wrong to lie," Danny stated.

"Yes, it is.

"Cam said she knew you were my daddy a long time ago," Danny said.

"Yes, she did. She didn't want me to know because she was afraid I'd leave her. So she lied and hurt a lot of people," Jason said.

"She's bad."

"She did a lot of bad things, yes," Jason told him.

"I don't want to see her anymore," Danny said. He never liked Liz, but now he hated her. She made his daddy leave him. He didn't want her to be around.

"I don't want you to see her either. I'm going to do everything I can to make sure you don't have to," Jason promised.

Danny nodded.

"Okay, what do you say we go start the movie night we had planned, huh?" Jason asked.

Danny smiled brightly. "Can we have popcorn?"

"Of course we can. What's a movie night without popcorn? Come on," he said before gently pushing the boy off his lap.

Danny immediately grabbed his hand and pulled his dad up and towards the door.


	27. Chapter 27

Sam opened her front door and was shocked to find Robin on the other side. She'd known that Patrick had gone out of town to look for her, but he had no idea that he actually found her. "Robin."

"Hi, Sam. If it's an okay time, I was hoping we could talk for a few minutes," Robin said.

"Absolutely. Come in," Sam said as she immediately stood aside.

"Thanks," Robin said before walking inside.

"Wow, I guess Patrick pulled it off. He found you," Sam said as she closed the door.

"Yeah. I wasn't expecting it actually. I'd given up hope a long time ago," Robin said.

Sam motioned to the couch. "Please, have a seat. How are you?"

Robin sat down. "I'm not sure. I've only been back a couple of days and I think I'm pretty numb still. It's hard to get used to the concept of being free, again."

Sam sat down next to Robin, but she didn't speak. She couldn't even imagine what this woman had been through. She'd been an ongoing hostage for more than six years, and part of that was because she wanted to help Sam and her family. "Robin, I can't even begin to thank you for what you gave up for me and my family."

"Thank me? Sam I came to apologize," Robin said with surprise in her voice. She didn't understand why Sam would thank her. She left her to grieve for years longer than necessary.

"For what? Saving my husband?" Sam asked as though it was ridiculous.

"I may have saved him, but it hardly helped anyone. It didn't bring him back to the people he loved. You spent years not knowing he was alive and he spent just as long with no memory. Maybe if I had told you before I left I could've spared you pain. But Victor made it clear that I couldn't tell anyone. I wasn't even supposed to tell Patrick. Also, I didn't want to give you false hope if I couldn't save him," Robin explained.

"Robin..."

"And then I lied to Patrick when the two of you were at the clinic, and he told me he told you what I told him. Sam, I'm sorry. Victor was threatening Patrick and Emma. He killed Patrick and Sabrina's little boy," Robin continued.

"Robin, I don't blame you. If it was me and someone was threatening Danny, I'd do the same thing. Honestly, I don't think I could be as selfless as you were if it were me. I don't think I could give up my own happiness and my freedom on such a slim chance. So I am so grateful to you for what you did. My son has his father because of you," Sam said.

Robin sighed. "It didn't end the way I wanted it to. I wanted to get him back to you and Danny, and I almost did. We were so close. We managed to get back to Port Charles, but Helena got to us both. Jason got away from her, and I guess that's when he got hurt."

Sam nodded. "Yeah, but what happened was not on you. It was on the Cassidines and then Elizabeth."

"Patrick told me that Elizabeth knew everything. I couldn't believe it. I never would've thought she'd do something like that," Robin said. She'd lost a great deal of respect for Elizabeth after hearing what she did to Jason. Jason had been nothing but good to her and she'd repaid that by taking advantage of him and robbing him of his life. Plus, Robin couldn't help but blame Elizabeth for her own troubles. If she'd been honest about Jason being alive, Patrick would've realized much sooner that something was wrong and would've come for her sooner.

"Believe it or not, neither did I. You know I've never liked Elizabeth. I've made no secret about that. I always knew she wasn't as perfect as she claimed to be. But even I never thought she'd do something like this," Sam said.

"How is Jason dealing with things?" Robin asked.

"The best he can. It's not easy for him, for anyone really. We are all trying to pick up the pieces, but it's not easy. Jason just recently had his marriage to Elisabeth declared invalid and he's fighting for custody of his kids with Elizabeth. I'm sure Patrick told you that he adopted Cameron and Aiden and that they have a little girl," Sam said.

Robin nodded. "I imagine that they and Danny are suffering the most."

"I actually thought my son might not be affected so badly. He at least had Jason in his life, despite Elizabeth's attempts to keep them apart, and he was really happy when he found out his 'Uncle Jake' was his father. We thought there wouldn't be any real damage there. But last week, Jason told me Danny overheard a conversation Cameron had on the phone with Emma. He knows what Elizabeth did and he's hurt, just like everyone else," Sam said. She hated Elizabeth for what she did to her child. She hated her for what she did to her and Jason too, but Danny and the other kids were innocent. They didn't deserve the disregard that she showed them in her quest to hang onto a man she never really had.

"You know, that's the worst thing. You, Jason, me, we're all adults we can at least handle things to a certain degree, but she made collateral damage after innocent kids who can't do a thing to protect themselves," Robin said.

Sam nodded. "That's why Jason is fighting for his children. Elizabeth showed no regard for her own kids when she did this. He can't let that stand. He can't take the risk that it will happen again."

"I was thinking about going to see him, but I'm not sure I should. I failed him. I'm part of the reason this happened to him," Robin said. She was afraid to face Jason. If she had done something different, this might not have happened. He might not even have lost his memory.

"Robin, stop. I told you, this isn't your fault. Jason will tell you the same. If anything, he will blame himself for what happened to you," Sam said. She knew her husband very well, even as the man he'd become after losing his memory. Jason wold take this on himself because Robin was kidnapped trying to help him.

"No, it's not his fault. I made my choice. I wanted to save him. I wanted to bring him back to his wife and son," Robin said.

"And you did. It may not have gone the way any of us would've liked, but you still brought Jason back to us. Everything that happened after you saved him was on others. He knows that. You should go see him. I know he'd want to thank you himself," Sam said.

"Okay, I think I will. Sam, there was another reason I came by. Patrick told me that after our divorce, you and him started seeing each other," Robin said.

"Robin, listen, if either of us had had any idea that you were..."

"No, Sam, this isn't some kind of confrontation or anything," Robin interrupted. "I wanted to thank you for looking after Patrick and Emma. He said you were really good to Emma and I really appreciate that.

"That was my pleasure. I loved that kid and I really cared about Patrick. I still care about both of them. But I need you to know that we never would've done anything if we thought for one second that you were forced to sign your divorce papers," Sam said. She felt really bad about being with Patrick now, especially after what Robin had done to bring Jason back to her.

"I know that. Look, I can't say that it doesn't hurt that Patrick moved on, but at the same time, I'm happy he did. I wouldn't want him to be miserable," Robin said.

"I don't think Patrick ever moved on. No more than I did. That's why we didn't work out. Our hearts both belonged to other people," Sam said sadly.

"Well, maybe you and Jason will be able to make it back one day," Robin said.

"I don't know about that. I think too much damage may have been done," Sam said. She wanted more than anything to get back what she and Jason had, but she just wasn't sure that was possible. Too much had been taken from them and they'd both changed so much. She didn't know if they could get past it. But even if a miracle happened and they could, it wouldn't be the same as it was before. That she was sure about. "How about you and Patrick? Do you think you guys will make it back?"

"I hope so. Him and Emma are the only things that kept me going. I'm trying to take things slow though. I can't just go back as if these last few years never happened," Robin said.

"Yeah, I think we all have the problem," Sam said.

"I should go. I just wanted to clear the air with you," Robin said before standing up.

"There's nothing to clear. I'm so grateful for everything you've done," Sam said before standing up.

"I hope things work out for you and Jason one way or another," Robin said before heading for the door.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Jason opened his front door to find a woman he didn't actually remember meeting in person, but felt like he still knew. Patrick's ex-wife, Robin. "Hi."

"Hi, Jason. I know you don't actually remember me, but I'm Robin," Robin said.

"I know. I've seen a picture of you before and I've actually had a couple of short flashes of you. Please come in," Jason said before moving aside to let her in.

"Thanks," Robin said before stepping inside.

Jason led her into the living room and motioned towards the couch. They both sat down.

"Wow. You look so much different than the last time I saw you," Robin said. Patrick had told her that much, but it was different to actually see the differences. Though the eyes were the same, of course.

"Yeah, I've seen the pictures. It is weird. Listen, Robin, I want to thank you for what you did, and to apologize for what it cost you. You lost everything to save me, twice," Jason said. He'd been told about the first time Robin saved him too. She'd been presumed dead after being in an explosion while trying to get him what was needed to save his life. He owed her his life more than once.

"Jason, no, don't apologize for anything. You were my friend. I'd known you since I was a child. I wanted to save you. I wanted to give your son his father back, because I knew you'd be an amazing one. I saw that for myself. And you shouldn't thank me either. I failed to get you back to your family," Robin said. Despite what Sam said, she still felt it was her fault that Jason didn't get back to Sam and Danny.

Jason shook his head. You did what you set out to do. You saved my life and got me back to Port Charles. What happened after that wasn't on you. Please don't blame yourself. I certainly don't. I blame the Cassidines, Elizabeth, and myself."

"Yourself? Why would you blame yourself?" Robin asked surprised.

"I lived a screwed up life, Robin. I may not remember it, but I know enough to know that that's true. I left my wife and child the day Danny came home for mob business. I didn't put my family first and it cost me. At the same time though, I'm almost grateful," Jason said

"What do you mean?" Robin asked.

"I hate the pain that Sam and Danny were caused. I hate the pain my three other kids are going through now. But I feel like that night on the peer had to happen. Something had to give, you know? Eventually, I was going to stop beating the odds. It was inevitable. So either I needed a wake up call or I really was going to end up dead, or worse, someone I loved was," Jason explained. Again, he hated how much pain his family suffered, and he was by no means absolving those responsible. But if this didn't happen, he believed something else would've, and the outcome might have been worse.

"And you think getting shot was your wake up call?" Robin asked. She was surprised by his take on it. She simply wouldn't have imagined that anything could happen that could cause such an insight in her friend. Nothing else had before. Then again, he had to start over from scratch. It made sense that he might be different.

"I think it all was. Because I'll never go back. I have to believe that even if I remember everything tomorrow, that enough has happened that I'll understand that that is just not a life I want for me or my children," Jason said firmly.

"I'm so glad to hear you say that. I always hoped one day that you'd come to that conclusion. I just wish you didn't have to lose everything for it to happen," Robin said.

"Me too. More than that, I wish Sam and Danny hadn't had to lose," he said.

"Sam doesn't seem to hold much hope that the two of you will make it back. Do you agree?" Robin asked.

"I think it would be hard. Neither one of us is the same and I'm coming out of a really bad end to a relationship. That said, I won't count it out altogether because anything could happen. Right now, I'm just trying to take things one step at a time. If I even try to do anything else, it just might push me over the edge," Jason said.

"I guess we have that in common," Robin said.

Just then the door opened and closed and soon Aiden ran into the room. "Daddy."

Jason turned to his son. "Hey, buddy. How was school?" Jason asked.

"Boring. Isn't that Emma's mommy," Aiden asked as he looked at the lady with his father. He remembered seeing her picture at his Uncle Patrick's house. Emma told him that was her mom.

"Yeah, this is Robin. Robin, this is my son, Aiden," Jason said.

Robin smiled at the young boy. "Hi, Aiden. It's good to see you again."

"I've seen you before?" Aiden asked. He couldn't remember meeting this lady before today.

"You were really little," Robin said.

"Aiden, do you have homework?" Jason asked.

"Yeah, but it's Friday," Aiden said with a pleading look. He didn't want to do his homework now. He had all weekend.

"Yes, but if you do it now, you can spend the weekend having fun. And this way, you won't forget your homework at Mommy's like you did last week," Jason said a bit sternly.

"Okay," Aiden said with a groan before heading for the kitchen.

"I should go," Robin said before standing up. "It looks like you have to start doing the parenting thing."

Jason stood up. "I'm glad you came by. I want to thank you again for everything you did. And I know we don't really know each other anymore, but I'd like us to be friends."

"I'd like that too. From what I've been told, our kids are practically joined at the hip."

Jason chuckled and led her to the door. "Again, I'm glad you came by."

"Me too. I hope things get better for you and your family, Jason," Robin said before heading out the door.


End file.
